London close: Strong end to the day
London ended the day in decent shape despite a mixed start on Wall Street. Experian finished top of the heap as analysts warmed to its Brazilian buy earlier in the week.
An upgrade from Morgan Stanley boosted Shell, while Man rallied after the concern over hedge funds in recent days.
Diageo led the fallers after a poorly received trading update, while BAE Systems fell back on worries over the scope of the US investigation into its Saudi deals.
Vodafone has been buoyed all week by talk it is close to an exclusive deal with Apple to sell its iPhone in Europe and continued its rise today.
Property was the early play with British Land, Land Securities and Hammerson up. Miners also surged ahead such as Vedanta Resources, Xstrata and Anglo American.
HMV said last year was difficult as it performed below expectations due to significant changes in the market but the music retailer has started the new financial year well.
Pre-tax profit for the year to April slumped to £21.6m from £80.2m previously, on sales that rose 3.8% to £1,894.5m but was down 3.5% on like-for-like terms. Like-for-like sales for the eight weeks to June 2007 is up 3.8%, including an 8.8% increase in HMV UK & Ireland.
Bus and trains group Arriva has continued its positive start to the year, it said Thursday, with trading in line with expectations. It said trading in the UK bus business is strong, despite further year on year increases in the cost of fuel.
Packaging manufacturer DS Smith said good organic growth was achieved across all its businesses in the year as it took advantage of the better pricing environment in the paper and corrugated packaging market
Trading has been strong across the business at cake and bread group Finsbury Food, with the performance of Lightbody, acquired in February, ahead of expectations, the company said today.
Extended warranty supplier Domestic & General, which received an approach from Homeserve last month, has received advances from other interested parties, it said today.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian Group (EXPN) 626.50p +3.38%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,386.00p +3.05%
British Energy Group (BGY) 539.00p +2.67%
BG Group (BG.) 813.00p +2.65%
Man Group (EMG) 604.50p +2.63%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,060.00p +2.59%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Diageo (DGE) 1,038.00p -2.54%
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BAE Systems (BA.) 403.00p -1.83%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 900.50p -1.48%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 623.00p -0.95%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 1,239.00p -0.88%
Barclays (BARC) 696.50p -0.85%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Domestic and General (DGG) 1,361.00p +10.92%
Charter (CHTR) 1,093.00p +7.16%
Amec (AMEC) 594.00p +5.69%
Beazley Group (BEZ) 146.25p +5.41%
John Wood Group (WG.) 337.25p +5.39%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 163.00p +5.33%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
HMV Group (HMV) 118.00p -3.28%
Carpetright (CPR) 1,152.00p -2.70%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 183.50p -2.13%
BSS Group (BTSM) 477.25p -2.10%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 152.25p -2.09%
easyJet (EZJ) 516.50p -2.09%.
