London close: Footsie ends on a high thanks to US
London's benchmark index traversed into the blue, battling back from earlier losses as concerns about inflation waned in the US, helping sentiment here.
Wall Street posted stellar gains with the Dow jumping 70 points in early trades as a tame inflation report eased fears that the US economy is growing too fast.
Back in London, real estate stocks had been influencing the negative sentiment on negative broker comments. HSBC cut its price target on Land Securities to 2,000p from 2,240p and lowered its view on Segro, formerly Slough Estates, to 'underweight' from 'neutral'.
British Land remains at 'overweight' with target down to 1,525p from 1,195p, while Hammerson sees its target lowered to 1,395p from 1,500p, and Liberty's down to 1,065p from 1,195p.
Power station operator Drax was also lower after its update. The group said it continued to trade in line with expectations and announced it will pay both an interim and special dividend for the half year. But there were fears that the special dividend might be lower than expected.
Mortgage lender Northern Rock retraced some of the losses it posted earlier in the week, topping the risers after it received positive comments from Goldman Sachs.
Pub owners Punch Taverns, Mitchells & Butlers and JD Wetherspoon were lower as smokers and investors brace themselves for the smoking ban that comes into force on Sunday.
Oil and gas producers rode high as crude prices near $70 a barrel. Shell and BP are posting strong gains.
Housebuilder Berkeley posted a 14% rise annual profits to £188.1m, well ahead of forecasts. Forward sales are up by 18% to £936m.The group added that market conditions remained favourable. It is also to accelerate the payment to shareholders of the remaining B shares from 2010 to 2008.
Media buyer Aegis also reported trading is on track with organic revenue growth across the group very healthy, though currency movements remain a problem. "Although reported results will reflect the current strength of sterling, we expect to deliver a good underlying improvement in pre-tax profit at constant currencies for the first half of 2007," it said.
D1 Oils, the UK-based global producer of biodiesel, plans to establish a global joint venture with BP to create a world-leading business in Jatropha curcas: D1-BP Fuel Crops Limited. The target is to plant one million hectares over four years.
Skyepharma's latest trading update contained no more bad news for shareholders with the drug developer not expecting material changes in its expectations of operating results.
Air conditioning and ventilation systems provider Worthington Nicholls posted interim pre-tax losses and said performance will be weighted towards the second half.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Northern Rock (NRK) 868.00p +4.70%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 459.00p +2.34%
ITV (ITV) 114.20p +2.15%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 646.50p +1.97%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 633.00p +1.61%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 614.00p +1.57%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,630.00p +1.56%
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) 622.00p +1.47%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,034.00p +1.45%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 640.00p +1.43%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Liberty International (LII) 1,145.00p -2.39%
Drax Group (DRX) 726.50p -2.02%
SEGRO (SGRO) 625.00p -1.96%
Hammerson (HMSO) 1,434.00p -1.78%
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Standard Life (SL.) 330.25p -1.64%
British Land (BLND) 1,340.00p -1.62%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 888.00p -1.39%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,244.00p -1.03%
Compass Group (CPG) 345.75p -1.00%
Cable & Wireless (CW.) 194.50p -0.97%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 655.00p +4.13%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 324.00p +3.93%
JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 555.50p +3.54%
Rightmove (RMV) 628.00p +3.46%
UK Coal (UKC) 514.50p +3.31%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 1,564.00p +3.10%
CSR (CSR) 783.50p +2.96%
Wincanton (WIN) 413.50p +2.67%
Halma (HLMA) 240.75p +2.67%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,620.00p +2.38%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Invista Foundation Property Trust (IFD) 119.00p -3.45%
DS Smith (SMDS) 232.00p -3.33%
Assura Group (AGR) 199.50p -3.16%
Chemring Group (CHG) 1,966.00p -3.15%
ITE Group (ITE) 169.00p -3.15%
Unite Group (UTG) 402.50p -3.13%
Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 1,623.00p -3.10%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 30.75p -2.38%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,022.00p -2.11%
Northern Foods (NFDS) 119.00p -2.06%
