London close: Afternoon rally means London ends week on a high

17.08.2007

London benefited from the US Federal Reserve's decision to cut its discount rate by half of a percentage point. The London market surged even before Wall Street opened and it was more successful in hanging on to the gains than the US where the early euphoria led to a more cautious view of the rate cut. The Footsie is now camped comfortably above the 6,000 level. This week has taught us that one good day could be followed by a bad one so the outlook remains uncertain.

Financials headed the recovery with Standard Chartered in the forefront. Bank Northern Rock also retraced some of the heavy losses from earlier in the week. Private equity group 3i Group, Invesco and Man were also higher.

Miners recovered all of their losses from earlier in the day with Vedanta Resources, Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Xstrata all up. Lonmin has been up all day after it got a price target lift from Credit Suisse to 4,000p from 3,200p.

Pub operators Mitchells & Butler and Punch Taverns were volatile all day but ended slightly higher. Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch concentrates on the beverage sector, reiterating a "buy" and 1,420p price target on SABMiller, while Scottish & Newcastle also keeps its "buy" status

Advertising giant WPP posted a slight rise in interim profits and revenues, despite figures being hampered by the weak dollar. The group saw revenue up 2% to £2.921bn, which was reduced by almost six percentage points due to the strength of the pound against the US dollar. Pre-tax profit for the six months increased 2.4% to £294.1m.

Nightclub operator Luminar said it is to return £41m to shareholders following the disposal of 54 Chicago Rock Cafe branded venues, 13 Jumpin Jaks branded venues and 31 non-core units.

Real estate group Daejan Holdings said net rental income in the six months to June in both the UK and USA is in line with expectations.

Oil and gas exploration company Max Petroleum said it is unaware as to why its share price has slumped this week. Even so, it hardly recovered any of the previous day's decline.

Air conditioning and ventilation systems provider Worthington Nicholls said it expects turnover and profit for the year to 30 September to be materially below market expectations and it has lost three-fifths of its value.

AIM-quoted Russian residential and commercial property investor MirLand Development Corporation revealed that its net assets have increased from $366.5m to $460m at the end of June 2007.

Patientline, the hospital phone and television provider, said revenues for the first four months of the financial year are below the same period last year due to adverse publicity surrounding its hospital telephone call charges.

Interactive Gaming shares were suspended when it revealed it might not get the cash injection that it was expecting.

FTSE 100 - Risers

Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,560.00p +8.03%

Northern Rock (NRK) 709.50p +7.66%

Standard Life (SL.) 305.50p +7.01%

Lonmin (LMI) 2,974.00p +6.52%

ICAP (IAP) 484.50p +6.48%

Schroders Nv (SDRC) 1,051.00p +6.22%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 644.50p +6.00%

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 575.50p +5.99%

Legal & General Group (LGEN) 137.40p +5.94%

Xstrata (XTA) 2,656.00p +5.86%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) 616.00p -0.16%

Tesco (TSCO) 403.50p -0.12%

Kingfisher (KGF) 198.20p +0.05%

Hanson (HNS) 1,095.00p +0.18%

Diageo (DGE) 995.50p +0.25%

Punch Taverns (PUB) 990.50p +0.30%

Whitbread (WTB) 1,452.00p +0.35%

ITV (ITV) 104.40p +0.38%

Reuters Group (RTR) 611.00p +0.99%

Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 665.00p +1.22%

FTSE 250 - Risers

Petrofac Ld (PFC) 418.50p +7.72%

International Personal Finance (IPF) 189.75p +7.20%

Renishaw (RSW) 685.50p +7.11%

Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,436.00p +7.08%

Avis Europe (AVE) 44.75p +6.55%

ARM Holdings (ARM) 146.50p +6.55%

Mapeley (MAY) 2,446.00p +6.44%

WH Smith (SMWH) 389.00p +6.43%

Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 275.75p +6.26%

HMV Group (HMV) 119.25p +6.00%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Henderson Group (HGI) 125.50p -2.90%

PZ Cussons (PZC) 168.25p -2.89%

Domestic and General (DGG) 1,313.00p -2.74%

Restaurant Group (RTN) 261.00p -2.52%

Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 223.00p -2.09%

Savills (SVS) 447.50p -1.97%

Southern Cross Healthcare Group (SCHE) 440.00p -1.84%

QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 167.25p -1.62%

Workspace Group (WKP) 350.75p -1.47%

Capital & Regional (CAL) 891.00p -1.44%

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