London close: Strong rally in line with Wall St.
All but two of the FTSE constituents made headway today, as London took its lead from Wall Street, which opened higher on renewed hopes of a cut in US interest rates.
Sage was the best performing blue-chip on the day. The business software solutions provider upped revenues for the 12 months increased to £1.15bn from £935m and said trading is going well.
Compass headed north. The contract caterer reported a near 42% hike in full year underlying profit and flagged an "encouraging" start to the new financial year.
British Airways also soared higher after Deutsche Bank lifted shares in the airline to 'buy' from 'hold', although the price target drops to 449p from 464p.
Among the banks, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and HSBC all forged ahead strongly thanks to Tuesday's $7.5bn investment in Citigroup by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
For much of the day building supplies group Wolseley was the major under-performer but hopes of a US interest rate cut perked up the building supplies titan. The shares were initially marked down after a gloomy statement in which the company revealed business conditions in a number of the group's markets are expected to become more challenging over the next few months.
Problems in Italy and over-ordering of laptops at PC World sent interim profits at electricals retailer DSG down by 26% to £52.4m. Like-for-like sales grew 5% in the 24 weeks to 13 October, but overall profit was "disappointing" primarily due to PC World and UniEuro, DSG said.
Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey announced solid first half figures. Sales revenue for the period rose 20% to £3.5bn, reflecting good underlying volume growth and higher precious metal prices. Pre-tax profit increased 15% to £120.1m. Prospects for the second half remain steady, the company said.
Away from Footsie, tool hire firm Speedy Hire was a rare weak spot, even though both its divisions reported record revenue and operating profits for the first half. Qinetiq, the high-tech defence firm at the centre of a storm about being sold too cheaply by the government, has upped its interim dividend by 11% and expects a strong performance for the year.
Troubled buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon recovered further ground as Credit Suisse lifted the shares to 'outperform' from 'neutral' and upped the price target to 175p from 145p. It also reckons Paragon may attract a takeover bid.
Automatic camera tracking specialist OMG reported record turnover, up 20% to £19.6m, and an 11% increase in profit before tax.
Software testing firm SQS was wanted after it raised profit expectations for the year for the second time in three months. The company said revenues and profits this year are expected to be slightly ahead of market expectations, as the company is experiencing strong growth in all regions and all market sectors.
Elsewhere in the computing sector data search software specialist Autonomy advanced briskly on news that M6, one of France's leading television channels, has chosen the company's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) platform to automatically organise and manage its extensive video archive.
Falkland Oil and Gas says BHP Billiton is to increase its interest in its oil and gas licences near the Falkland Islands to 51% from 40% at a cost of an additional $2.75m.
Bid target Biffa moved up after first half profits edged up a little. Trading since the start of the financial year has been in line with expectations.
Media group Future celebrated its return to profit with a 10% hike in total dividends for the year. The group has closed or sold 51 under-performing magazines in the last year.
Stockbroking and wealth management firm Brewin Dolphin climbed after pre-tax profit rose to £41.7m In the year to end September from £32.1m in the comparable period of last year.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Sage Group (SGE) 213.00p +9.96%
Compass Group (CPG) 316.25p +9.33%
British Airways (BAY) 342.50p +7.79%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 703.00p +6.76%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 635.50p +6.45%
Liberty International (LII) 1,114.00p +6.20%
ICAP (IAP) 671.00p +6.09%
Prudential (PRU) 660.50p +5.85%
Barclays (BARC) 554.00p +5.73%
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Tullow Oil (TLW) 635.50p +5.30%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Resolution (RSL) 706.00p 0.00%
National Grid (NG.) 811.00p 0.00%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 138.25p +11.49%
St James's Place (STJ) 304.00p +10.85%
Rank Group (RNK) 92.25p +10.48%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 134.00p +9.61%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 272.75p +9.10%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,809.00p +8.32%
Regus Group (RGU) 80.75p +7.67%
Berkeley Group Holdings Units (BKG) 1,389.00p +7.42%
Michael Page International (MPI) 301.75p +7.38%
Game Group (GMG) 190.50p +7.17%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Randgold Resources (RRS) 1,742.00p -3.44%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 469.00p -3.00%
FKI (FKI) 69.75p -2.45%
eaga (EAGA) 175.50p -2.36%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,041.00p -2.22%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 240.00p -1.84%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,274.00p -1.77%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 472.75p -1.51%
Speedy Hire (SDY) 915.00p -1.51%
F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 204.00p -1.45%
