FTSE 100 Friday Close: Builders boost for Footsie
Builders laid the foundations for gains on the stock market after Taylor Wimpey reported that orders for new houses were flowing again.
Movers: We round up the daily action on the Stock Exchange
Taylor Wimpey said housebuilders had avoided a 'severe' downturn and revealed that its forward order book had soared 73% since the end of last year.
Shares in Taylor Wimpey rose 3p, or narly 10%, to 34p on the news, while fellow builders Redrow and Barratt Developments also benefitted, rise 8¾p to 191½p and 10p to 153½p respectively.
Building supplies merchant Travis Perkins piggy-backed on the better news, rising 22p, or 4.6%, to 497p. Likewise plumbing company Wolseley, up 56p, or 5.4%, to 1,079p.
Overall, the FTSE 100 sat 65.07 points better off at 4345.93 . US factory and jobs data overnight had spurred Wall St and London was expected to feel the benefit today.
Energy companies rose after the price of a barrel of oil hit $71. BP rose 12p to 497p, while BG Group gained 39p to 1,066p. Royal Dutch Shell edged ahead, 32p higher to 1,591p.
Miners recovered after recent falls, with Lonmin, up 66p to 1,250p, BHP Billiton, up 28p to 1,406p, Anglo American, 42p higher at 1,623p, Kazakhmys, up 17p to 637½p, and Rio Tinto, up 46p higher 2,095p, all making gains.
Xstrata continued to bask in the glow of upgrades from Morgan Stanley and Citgroup and sat 26½p, or 4%, higher at 681p.
Banks were the best performing of the FTSE 100 shares. Barclays, up 5¼p to 274p, Standard Chartered, up 24p to 1,205p, Lloyds Banking Group, up 0.70p to 70p,
Life insurances saw good support as well, helped by a bullish Deutsche Bank note on the sector, with the broker raising target prices across the board.
Aviva was the top FTSE 100 riser, up 18½p to 336¾p, or 5.8%, while Standard Life, Prudential, and Friends Provident added from 2.2% to 2.6%.
Monday's agenda
A Flurry of data about the residential property market is due out, but whether to inspire hope or reduce punters to despair remains to be seen. So far, the general picture appears to be of a market bumping along the bottom, with some signs of interest from buyers, but at a very low level.
Rightmove, the online property agent, will announce its house price figures for June at midnight. The previous month found prices rose 2.4% on april, and were down 6.2% on the year.
Software group Kewill is unusually interesting for an It business as it can serve as something of an international trade barometer. It provides the computing kit used by many of the world's biggest shipping companies and so has a decent overview of which regions are hot and which are not.
Analysts will be seeking Kewill's views on which parts of the world are emerging from recession and which are still mired in the whole depressing mess. However, there are few worries about the company's own trading. In the spring it won a potentially vast new contract with shipping giant AP Moller Maersk which should pay big dividends for years to come.
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