London close: US gains prompt late rally
London rallied off session lows mid-afternoon as Wall Street recovered from a brief dip into the red and miners continued to blaze a trail higher in another volatile day.
US stocks started better, but turned lower shortly after the open before resuming their advance as investors bet that the Fed will cut rates again at the end of tomorrow's scheduled meeting.
Over here, rising copper prices helped the mining sector shrug off recession fears, sending Kazakhmys, Xstrata, Anglo American and Antofagasta north.
Thomas Cook enjoyed big gains after peer TUI Travel said current trading remains encouraging with strong consumer demand across all source markets. Mainstream trading has been particularly strong in the period following the Christmas holiday, with sales significantly ahead of prior year. Cook's final results are due Wednesday.
Insurer Prudential reported a better than expected 21% rise in full-year sales, fuelled by growth in its Asian division. Total APE sales rose to £2.87bn in the 12 months to 31 December, with retail insurance APE sales up 25% to £2.6bn. UBS expected a 15% increase.
Satellite broadcaster BSkyB has been ordered to ditch more than half its stake in terrestrial rival ITV after a year of wrangling with competitors and regulators.
But mortgage lender Alliance & Leicester sank on news it is to take a £185m charge for losses on its Treasury investments, more than three times higher than its previous estimate of 55m. A&L added it has arranged funding until the end of 2008. Excluding the one-off charge its 2007 underlying profit would be in line with its previous guidance, it said.
Imperial Tobacco said the overall anticipated trading performance for the financial year to September 2008 remains in line with its expectations, but the shares fell.
Johnson Matthey says trading has been strong in the third quarter of its financial year, although a muted response for brokers sent the shares lower. Sales for the continuing businesses were up 18% as a result of good underlying volume growth and higher prices for platinum group metals (pgms), while operating profit rose 17%.
Among the mid-caps, Mitchells & Butlers ran up post-tax losses of £274m after closing out its disastrous hedges taken in connection with its proposed property joint venture with Robert Tchenguiz.
The pub owner added that like-for-like sales up 0.7% in first 17 weeks of this year with food sales up 4.6%, though drink sales fell by 1.1%. M&B is cautious on the outlook for consumer spending, but the shares rose on its comment that it has launched a "strategic review for value creation".
Price increases have helped dairy group Dairy Crest maintain its progress in its third quarter. Sales rose 40% at its foods division and by 13% at the dairies business.
Stockbroker Jarvis Securities found favour after almost doubling full year profit before tax to £2.28m following what it called a "fantastic" year.
Eaga, which provides energy efficiency measures, also improved after it reported a rise in half-year pre-tax profit to £14.5m from £9m thanks to organic growth and acquisitions.
Electronic cable firm Volex plunged though after it warned that second half operating margins and pre-tax profit will be significantly lower than that reported for the first six months.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 669.50p +6.69%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,719.00p +5.89%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,608.00p +5.80%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 260.00p +5.48%
British Airways (BAY) 329.00p +5.11%
Sage Group (SGE) 218.00p +4.93%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,193.00p +4.74%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 399.75p +4.72%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 636.50p +4.52%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 390.75p +4.20%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 700.00p -3.45%
Shire (SHP) 935.00p -1.22%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,749.00p -1.07%
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Man Group (EMG) 530.00p -1.03%
Carnival Corporation (CCL) 2,084.00p -0.81%
Amec (AMEC) 680.50p -0.80%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,808.00p -0.60%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,766.00p -0.56%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,365.00p -0.21%
BAE Systems (BA.) 472.75p -0.11%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Chloride Group (CHLD) 171.00p +12.50%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 246.50p +9.92%
FKI (FKI) 50.75p +7.98%
Invensys (ISYS) 228.00p +7.29%
Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 906.00p +7.22%
Debenhams (DEB) 71.75p +7.09%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 559.50p +6.98%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 427.50p +6.88%
Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 218.75p +6.71%
eaga (EAGA) 151.00p +6.71%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PV Crystalox Solar (PVCS) 133.00p -3.80%
Catlin Group (CGL) 346.75p -1.98%
Benfield Group (BFD) 265.50p -1.39%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 960.00p -1.18%
Hiscox (HSX) 274.00p -1.08%
Marston's (MARS) 270.25p -0.92%
Southern Cross Healthcare Group (SCHE) 345.00p -0.79%
WSP Group (WSH) 463.50p -0.70%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 500.00p -0.60%
Davis Service Group (DVSG) 499.50p -0.50%
