London close: Blue chips track US advance
An early rally on Wall Street hauled London off its worst levels of the day, sending the leading index into positive territory despite weak miners and a dreary insurance sector.
Three figure gains in the US following a better-than-feared report on productivity rubbed off on UK counterparts.
BSkyB maintained its forward momentum through to the close after its latest figures revealed an additional 167,000 net TV subscribers in the second quarter. Meanwhile, churn, the number of customers that dropped their subscription, fell to 10% in the quarter to December 2007 from 11.3% the quarter before. A half year loss of £36m loss following a £343m write-off on its ITV stake had been well-flagged. ITV improved on more talk that private equity groups are circling.
Wm Morrison was in demand on a report that it took market share from rivals over Christmas. Its share rose to 11.5% in the 12 weeks to 27 January, up 11% on last year, according to data released yesterday from market research company TNS Worldpanel. Morgan Stanley has upped its rating on the stock from "equal weight" to "overweight".
Cadbury Schweppes also stretched out a lead after JP Morgan upgraded the stock to "overweight" from "neutral", with the price target raised to 690p.
Mining giant BHP Billiton was worst of the bunch after Rio Tinto rejected its improved offer of 3.4 shares for each Rio share as significantly undervaluing the company.
Reports overnight suggested Rio's new Chinese shareholder Chinalco may be preparing a counterbid. Last week it bought a 12% stake with US firm Alcoa for £60 per share.
Rumours that Vale is about to launch its mooted bid for Xstrata sent the Anglo-Swiss miner climbing, but there were losses elsewhere, with Vedanta and Kazakhmys down in the dumps.
Leading banks beat a retreat following last night's tumble on Wall Street. Royal Bank of Scotland, Standard Chartered and Lloyds TSB were left nursing losses.
Insurer Aviva said total worldwide sales rose 25% in the year to December but said the cost of the summer floods was higher than expected. Investors were unimpressed and chose to sell out of peers Legal & General and Friends Provident.
Away from blue chips, newspaper and media group Daily Mail reports revenue for the first quarter rose by 2%, adding that while slightly below last year its results are ahead of its expectations as they reflected timing differences, acquisitions and start-up costs.
Home maintenance specialist Homeserve said business has continued to grow on track so far this year with renewal rates high.
Northern Rock rallied on talk that SRM Global Master Fund has increased its stake to 10.77% after purchasing shares at an average price of 92.04p.
Engineer FKI remains on track to report strong trading growth in full year 2008, but warned of the performance of divisions reliant on the US.
Bowling alley operator Georgica scored a strike as it reported a huge leap in full year pre-tax profit from continuing operations to £7.12m and said it expects bid talks to resume when credit markets improve.
Engineer and defence group MS International released a terse, but optimistic trading update in which it said the company continued to perform in an encouraging vein, while the balance sheet remains strong with net cash and short term deposits.
Investors have warmed to Climate Exchange following news that its proposed joint venture with Bank of America has been abandoned. As a result of the cancellation of the joint initiative plans, Climate Exchange will not be obliged to issue shares to Bank of America. The two companies will continue to cooperate on ad-hoc initiatives.
FTSE 100 - Risers
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 577.00p +7.05%
Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) 2,641.00p +4.39%
British Energy Group (BGY) 513.00p +4.16%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 304.00p +3.75%
Cadbury Schweppes (CBRY) 585.00p +3.72%
ICAP (IAP) 698.50p +3.48%
ITV (ITV) 76.60p +2.96%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,445.00p +2.92%
Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 480.00p +2.78%
TUI Travel (TT.) 252.00p +2.44%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,520.00p -4.82%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,465.00p -2.68%
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Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 180.00p -2.65%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,882.00p -2.54%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 127.30p -2.23%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,595.00p -2.15%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,900.00p -2.01%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 581.00p -1.94%
Friends Provident (FP.) 135.20p -1.89%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,028.00p -1.79%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Northern Rock (NRK) 98.00p +8.89%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 118.75p +5.79%
Homeserve (HSV) 1,750.00p +4.48%
Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 360.00p +4.20%
JPMorgan Indian Inv Trus (JII) 434.75p +4.01%
Debenhams (DEB) 73.50p +3.89%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 27.00p +3.85%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 473.00p +3.50%
Laird Group (LARD) 503.50p +2.55%
Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 1,601.00p +2.37%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Expro International Group (EXR) 947.50p -6.00%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 191.00p -5.68%
Petrofac Ld (PFC) 515.50p -4.89%
Regus Group (RGU) 68.25p -4.88%
Unite Group (UTG) 324.50p -4.84%
Aga Foodservice Group (AGA) 308.25p -4.57%
Invensys (ISYS) 223.25p -4.49%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 390.75p -4.46%
UK Coal (UKC) 445.00p -4.25%
Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 187.75p -3.96%
