Market overview: Footsie ends up 17

Nov 06, 2009

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1630: close The Footsie finished a see-saw day in positive territory, shrugging off concerns about the worse than expected US jobless figures, which revealed the US unemployment rate has risen above the 10% level. Banks enjoyed a day in the sun, helped by a positive response to results from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and some positive broker comment. FTSE 100 up 17 to 5143.

16:00 Footsie has recovered after its lunch time dip. The US has bounced back from its earlier dip with the Dow down just 3 points at the moment. British Airways still leads the way. FTSE 100 is up 10 points to 5136.

13:55 Footsie has slumped on the US monthly jobs figures. US futures point to a weak start on Wall Street with markets expected to fall by over 70 points and that has dragged London lower. The big movers remain little changed with British Airways and Royal Bank of Scotland still ahead and Rentokil lower. FTSE 100 down 46 at 5,079.

13:30 October non-farm payrolls data showed the US unemployment rate rose to 10.2% from 9.8% in September. The number of jobs lost in October was 190,000, versus expectations of 175,000 job losses.

12:56 The market remains reluctant to commit itself too heavily ahead of this afternoon's US non-farm payrolls data, with the FTSE 100 just 9 points higher at 5,134. Rentokil Initial is sharply lower despite its third quarter pre-tax profit figures coming in 8% above forecasts by stockbrokers Charles Stanley and Panmure Gordon. Oil groups are also a drag on the index after the price of crude fell below $80 overnight.

11:53 The FTSE 100 is still up 11 points, steady ahead of the widely-watched US non-farm payrolls report at 1.30pm. Economists think 175,000 jobs were lost in October.

10:16 London has made a decent start with British Airways and Royal Bank of Scotland both ahead despite massive losses this morning. Rentokil Initial, which did announce decent numbers, is the worst performer. FTSE 100 up 11 at 5,137.

09:03 Rises outnumber falls by three to one among FTSE 100 constituents but the blue-chip index's rise is still an anaemic looking one; the FTSE 100 index is up 13 at 5,138. Vodafone, one of the most heavily weighted index constituents, is the biggest faller, while the big oil groups are also acting as a drag on the index.

08:30 Footsie has so far shrugged off more huge losses at Royal Bank of Scotland and British Airways, with the 200 point gain for the Dow overnight keeping buyers interested. BA is one of the best performers despite a £292m deficit. Smith & Nephew is also going well after figures. Vodafone is the weakest performer so far. FTSE 100 up 4 at 5,130. Market Movers techMARK 1,472.59 0.00% FTSE 100 5,132.09 +0.13% FTSE 250 9,071.10 +0.56% FTSE 100 - Risers British Airways (BAY) 197.10p +5.80% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 36.84p +4.63% Schroders (SDR) 1,130.00p +2.63% Home Retail Group (HOME) 309.50p +2.59% Burberry Group (BRBY) 581.00p +2.47% Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,806.00p +2.37% Invensys (ISYS) 296.60p +2.24% Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,603.00p +2.23% Schroders NV (SDRC) 917.50p +2.00% Shire Plc (SHP) 1,095.00p +1.96% FTSE 100 - Fallers Rentokil Initial (RTO) 105.00p -6.25% Old Mutual (OML) 105.90p -2.75% Centrica (CNA) 240.10p -2.00% Admiral Group (ADM) 1,038.00p -1.98% BG Group (BG.) 1,076.00p -1.78% Severn Trent (SVT) 942.50p -1.72% 3i Group (III) 270.80p -1.46% Vodafone Group (VOD) 135.50p -1.42% Wolseley (WOS) 1,252.00p -1.34% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 330.60p -1.28% FTSE 250 - Risers Grainger (GRI) 269.50p +6.27% Melrose (MRO) 187.00p +6.25% Great Portland Estates (GPOR) 259.80p +4.42% Imagination Technologies (IMG) 225.00p +4.36% Shanks Group (SKS) 89.80p +4.30% Fidessa (FDSA) 1,276.00p +4.16% Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 41.71p +4.04% Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 384.60p +3.97% Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 285.90p +3.96% Barratt Developments (BDEV) 139.20p +3.88% FTSE 250 - Fallers Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 562.00p -3.93% Trinity Mirror (TNI) 160.60p -2.96% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 258.50p -2.38% Pennon Group (PNN) 441.20p -2.24% Catlin Group (CGL) 329.80p -2.05% Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 459.30p -1.98% Berkeley Group Holdings Units (BKG) 854.50p -1.89% Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 230.60p -1.87% Drax Group (DRX) 462.50p -1.83% Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 438.10p -1.73% FTSE TechMARK - Risers Trafficmaster (TFC) 34.00p +4.62% Emblaze (BLZ) 47.25p +3.85% Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 235.00p +2.62% Innovation Group (TIG) 12.00p +2.13% Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 214.00p +1.90% Axis-Shield (ASD) 410.00p +1.80% Asterand (ATD) 20.75p +1.22% GB Group (GBG) 21.50p +1.18% Kofax (KFX) 182.00p +0.69% Microgen (MCGN) 87.50p +0.57% FTSE TechMARK - Fallers Skyepharma (SKP) 87.00p -6.45% Alphameric (ALM) 29.25p -5.65% Antisoma (ASM) 33.00p -5.04% Biocompatibles International (BII) 240.00p -3.03% Gresham Computing (GHT) 24.50p -2.97% Cryptologic Ld (CRP) 241.00p -2.82% Consort Medical (CSRT) 400.00p -2.44% Anite Group (AIE) 34.25p -2.14% Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 116.00p -2.11% E2V Technologies (E2V) 72.00p -2.04%

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