London close: Miners lead three figure surge
London built on its solid morning performance through the afternoon, ending the session with triple digit gains as miners surged and Wall Street improved on US rate cut hopes.
A strong mining sector provided much of the fillip. Lonmin, Antofagasta, and Kazakhmys were among the best performers on higher metal prices and after sector heavyweight BHP Billiton announced a strong set of final figures.
Attributable profit before exceptionals increased to $13.7bn from $10.2bn previously on revenue that surged 21% to $47bn. Pre-tax profit rose to £18bn from £14.1bn.
Man Group, Invesco and Standard Chartered also stormed ahead, while Northern Rock continued its recent topsy-turvy performance, as the bank retraces losses made yesterday.
BT, DSG International and Scottish & Southern Energy were among just a handful of losers after each went ex-dividend. Anglo American, Bradford & Bingley and ICI also started trading without the right to the latest payout.
But publishing house Pearson, which also went ex Wednesday, shrugged off a Deutsche Bank downgrade to 'hold' from 'buy' with price target down to 915p from 930p.
There were big gains for retailer Kesa Electricals as Morgan Stanley upped its view on the shares to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight', while Reuters did well on a Deutsche Bank upgrade to 'buy' from 'hold' with price target lifted to 740p from 650p.
Pub owner Punch Taverns joined the advance following a JP Morgan 'overweight' rating with 1,600p price target. Enterprise Inns and Mitchells & Butlers were also in demand.
Oil explorers struck it lucky, with Tullow announcing a "significant" oil discovery offshore the Republic of Ghana, while Venture Production discovered gas in two fault blocks in the Channon well in the southern North Sea.
Bus and rail operator Stagecoach said trading in the first quarter has been ahead of expectations, thanks to stronger than expected revenue growth. Recent severe weather has caused localised disruption to parts of its UK operations, though it said revenue trends remain encouraging.
Structural steel group Severfield-Rowen said today it has agreed to pay £90m for Action Merchants Limited, the holding company of constructional steel fabricator Fisher Engineering.
Mobile phone services supplier 2ergo expects full-year results to be ahead of expectations and said it will announce significant contract wins over the coming weeks.
Property support services group Erinaceous has confirmed that it is no longer in talks regarding a bid for the group.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Lonmin (LMI) 3,177.00p +7.22%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,280.00p +6.81%
Experian Group (EXPN) 525.50p +6.70%
Hammerson (HMSO) 1,307.00p +6.61%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 1,039.00p +6.40%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 694.50p +6.19%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,250.00p +6.11%
British Land (BLND) 1,286.00p +5.84%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 611.00p +5.80%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,752.00p +5.68%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,385.00p -2.94%
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BT Group (BT.A) 305.00p -2.24%
DSG International (DSGI) 159.00p -0.63%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 156.00p -0.26%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Severfield-Rowen (SFR) 2,268.00p +8.83%
Atkins (WS) (ATK) 1,028.00p +8.61%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 548.50p +7.55%
FKI (FKI) 99.75p +7.26%
Keller Group (KLR) 987.00p +6.88%
Weir Group (WEIR) 723.50p +6.71%
Aggreko (AGK) 508.00p +6.50%
Capital & Regional (CAL) 948.00p +6.46%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 147.00p +6.14%
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 422.50p +6.09%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 354.75p -4.25%
Avis Europe (AVE) 45.25p -4.23%
Dimension Data Holdings (DDT) 55.50p -1.77%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 575.00p -1.71%
Venture Production (VPC) 741.50p -1.33%
Greggs (GRG) 4,859.00p -0.84%
Witan Investment Trust (WTAN) 451.50p -0.66%
Misys (MSY) 226.75p -0.66%
RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 1,060.00p -0.66%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 168.50p -0.59%
