Date: Wednesday 20 May 2015
LONDON (ShareCast) - London stocks were trading slightly higher on Wednesday as strong performances from mining and telecommunications stocks outweighed weakness in the insurance and real estate sectors.
As of 2:30 GMT, the FTSE 100 was trading 6.2 points higher at 7,0001.
Vodafone led the risers, rebounding after Tuesday's falls following its annual results, as the owner of Liberty Global said the UK telecom would be a "great fit" to the business.
Miners Glencore and Rio Tinto rebounded from Tuesday's slump, which was driven by weaker metal pries. Sector peer Antofagasta was also higher, despite scaling back its production guidance for the year by 15,000 tonnes to 695,000 tonnes.
After a weak start to the trading session, shares in Marks & Spencer jumped into the green after the department store retailer's results beat forecasts with a 6% gain in full-year profits, its first increase in earnings in four years. The retailer also announced a £150m capital return to shareholders and a 5.9% increase in the total dividend.
Burberry topped the fallers after the fashion house cautioned that it was seeing increased uncertainty in some of its markets and warned over the potential impact of currency movements. It now expects earnings this year to be around £40m less than previously estimated due recent sterling strength.
SSE was in the red despite annual profits creeping higher, as the utility company disappointed with its warning that dividend cover would fall due to the pressure of "significant uncertainties" on earnings.
Financial services provider Hargreaves Lansdown reported a record level of inflows over the first four months of 2015, but shares fell as the company said revenue headwinds limited year-to-date top-line growth to just 0.7%.
Risers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 236.95p +4.57%
Mondi (MNDI) 1,518.00p +2.22%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 577.50p +1.76%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 597.50p +1.62%
Barclays (BARC) 266.30p +1.37%
Glencore (GLEN) 293.10p +1.19%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,878.00p +1.09%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,072.00p +1.04%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,916.00p +0.84%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 621.80p +0.83%
Fallers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,719.00p -4.92%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,239.00p -3.20%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,336.00p -1.98%
Intu Properties (INTU) 347.40p -1.89%
Hammerson (HMSO) 691.00p -1.78%
Prudential (PRU) 1,640.50p -1.71%
Dixons Carphone (DC.) 460.00p -1.67%
Old Mutual (OML) 232.20p -1.65%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,121.00p -1.49%
SSE (SSE) 1,671.00p -1.47%
Email this article to a friend
or share it with one of these popular networks:
900.00p
