Mining stocks carve out a safe haven

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 03:51 EDT, 16 June 2006

ANY port in a storm. Who would have thought that AB Ports, not always the most exciting of quoted companies, would have steered the market out of its recent upheavals on to dry land? And who would have thought that Toshihiko Fukui would today be the world's favourite banker?

For most of the last decade, ABP shares traded between £3 and £4.50, with a dip to £2 in 2000. Now, after two bids from the Goldman Sachs pantomime horse and two wait-and-sees from the rival Macquarie, they finished up 45p to 871½p.

The near-£2.6bn valuation sounds incredible, until you remember that ABP has 120,000 acres of land around the country for which, it seems, these rent-a-crowd bidders are ready to pay real money.

This is just what was needed to put traders in a sunny mood as they shut down their screens to watch England's Caribbean challenge.

The FTSE 100 ended 112.5 points higher at 5619.3, just below the 130-point best of the day reached just before the close. Miners and oil stocks, which took a battering early this week, rebounded in style.

For this we must also thank Fukui, the governor of the Bank of Japan. He has had a hard time lately, having unfortunately put £90,000 of his own money into a fund whose boss was later arrested for insider trading.

But fears that the Bank of Japan was ending its policy of pumping money into the financial system at zero interest rates has been a factor in the recent slump in Asian and global markets.

So Fukui's reassurance yesterday that the Bank is still keeping rates at zero was a big boost to confidence.

In Frankfurt, the European Central Bank did its best to spoil the party by warning of inflation risks and hinting it might carry on raising interest rates. But its gloomy words were swept aside.

The World Cup's boost for sales of TVs and England colours lifted UK retail sales growth to 4% in the year to May.

The pound finished little changed at $1.8485, with the euro at 68.3p.

Other bid hopefuls made fresh gains. AstraZeneca rose another 47p to 3063p, and hardy perennial Lloyds TSB moved up 12p to 527p after talk of a move by a Middle Eastern consortium.

Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson joined the fun with a 21¼p leap to 366¼p, with Benfield touted as a buyer.

Bid hopes might be just the ticket to give the big Standard Life float next month some badly needed support after it bowed to reality by cutting its share price range. Other wannabe floaters such as CMC Markets and Odeon cinemas owner Cineworld have been hesitating.

Retailers' relief at the Competition Commission's decision to rule out DVDs, clothing and other sectors outside food from its probe was shortlived. Tesco, Sainsbury and Wm Morrison all eased slightly.

Miners regained some shine. Kazakhmys, the only Kazakh company in the Footsie 100 (so far) added 68½p to 1008p.

Xstrata rose 144p to 1966p after winning Canadian regulators' clearance for its £9.5bn bid for rival Falconbridge.

Oils bounced after the steep falls that have wiped out their 2006 gains. Soco rose 44p to 1232p after stressing that the potential in Vietnam remains. Cairn Energy bounced 84p to 1960p.

Reuters rose 8½p to 362¾p after naming Devin Wenig, who runs four of its divisions, as chief operating officer.

AIM-quoted Aspen Clean Energy plans to become even cleaner by returning some £10m cash to shareholders and offering itself as a shell to a buyer seeking a route to market. Aspen (up ¾p to 7¾p) would still have £2.8m cash as a dowry for its suitor.

Hallin Marine Subsea rose 8½p to 68½p after winning contracts worth £2.4m in Thailand and Indonesia.

Dart Group, whose Jet2.com offshoot flew 2.2m passengers last year, rose 34¾p to 410p. Annual pretax profits jumped from £8.4m to £15m. Dart plans a four-for-one share split.

• BIDDERS are swarming all over the coastline, from the Humber to the Wash. Simon Group, which runs the Humber Sea Terminal at Killingholme and Port Sutton Bridge on the Wash, is the latest target in the shrinking ports sector. Montauban, which already owned 28.3%, bought another 18.7% from investment trust Utilico at 60p and launched a bid for the rest. Montauban's owner is Luxembourg-born Camille Cigrang.