FTSE 100 close: Miners drive Footsie gains
Surges in mining stocks - and share prices across the board - meant the London market finished the week on a high note today.
Market movers: We round-up the latest news from the Stock Exchange
The Footsie shrugged off terrible GDP figures to stand 137.76 points ahead at 4,155.99, after a sector upgrade from broker Cazenove put mining stocks at the head of the risers' board.
Cazenove said the robust Chinese economy should prop up commodity prices, sending Xstrata 15% ahead, or 75p to 600p and Anglo American 97p up at 1,422p. Eurasian Natural Resources joined in the party, adding 52p to 602.5p, while Kazakhmys followed with a gain of 39p to 515.5p.
Insurers were also big gainers, with traders seemingly optimistic about first-quarter results next week from Friends Provident, Aviva and Standard Life. Aviva, which is rebranding Norwich Union under the Aviva banner, rose 34p to 273.25p, followed by Legal & General up 4.9p to 50.3p.
The retail sector was generally led higher by strong half-year results from Debenhams and WH Smith.
Marks & Spencer was 1,75 up at 341.75p but Tesco dropped 1.6p to 355.4p, but in the second tier WH Smith and Debenhams rose 23.75p to 438.75p and 6.75p to 84p respectively as more analysts upped their forecasts in the wake of the interims yesterday.
Halfords also cheered 14.5p to 338p, but Sports Direct International shed 1p to 69p. Home furnishings firm Dunelm gained 11p to 266p.
Among top-tier fallers, British Airways was down 2.4p to 163.9p, after planned Spanish merger partner Iberia issued a profit warning. Fears were also raised that the earnings alert could throw the merger off course as Iberia is distracted by its trading woes.
Schroders gained 16.5p to 777p, after a 6.9% fall yesterday on the back of its first-quarter results. This despite Morgan Stanley on Friday cutting its price target on the asset manager.
Elsewhere, Alexon shares were up 55% after the company removed uncertainty by placing its Bay Trading business in the hands of administrators. With the company now better placed to focus on the revival of its core brands, shares jumped 18p to 50.5p.
Regent Inns, which operates the Walkabout and Jongleurs comedy club chains, fell 30% after it said it was mulling plans to delist from the main market of the London Stock Exchange. Shares were off 0.78p at 1.55p.
The fastest slide in UK economic output since 1979 might have left the Footsie unruffled, but it put sterling under pressure. Official figures showing that GDP fell by a worse-than-expected 1.9% in the first quarter helped weaken the pound by more than 1% against the euro.
Traders had been reading an article in the Daily Telegraph newspaper flagging risks to Britain's sovereign credit rating, in response to the massive increases in public borrowing forecast in Alistair Darling's Budget on Wednesday. The UK's Debt Management Office has warned that ion order to service the debt, gilt issuance will swell to £220bn this year.
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