FTSE close: Compass up; Man Group down
The FTSE 100 index pushed ahead today as markets greeted a slightly less worse reading for the UK economy.
The blue-chip index was 40.9 points ahead at 5,364.8 after revised third-quarter GDP figures showed, as expected, a slight upwards revison to -0.3% quarterly decline.
The first estimate had been -0.4%, shocking analysts who had expected Britain's economy to pull out of recession. The Footsie was helped further into positive territory by Wall Street, where the Dow Jones was last 33 points ahead at 10,467.
UK Banks, spurred by the Supreme Court's decision to stop the Office of Fair Trading judging on the fairness or otherwise of bank charges, were in demand after falling yesterday.
Lloyds Banking Group was up 0.2p to 94.01p after its rights issue pricing yesterday. Jonathan Newman, analyst at Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking, says that as he is benign on the wider economy he 'consequently sees intriguing long-term possibilities at Lloyds but in the short term prefer HSBC or Barclays' because Lloyds has such a big chunk of the UK banking market.
Barclays was 2.7p higher at 316.7p while HSBC was 3.6p higher at 740.6p.
A weaker dollar helped miners push ahead with gold prices reaching a new record near $1,180 an ounce. Randgold Resources was the sector's top performer as the precious metals firm added 150p to 5,190p, or 3%.
Decent corporate results helped others make progress, with catering group Compass adding 25.4p to 427.4p as annual results came in a touch ahead of hopes despite flat sales expected next year.
International Power was a strong riser once more on continuing speculative interest, with the Daily Mail's Market Report suggesting GDF Suez could be a possible bidder for the British generator. Shares were 6.9p up at 282.5p.
The chief executive of Royal Dutch Shell forecast it would not need to borrow any more money if oil remained around $70 per barrel, the Financial Times reported. RDSB shares were 9.5p up at 1,799.5p.
Hedge fund giant Man Group was the Footsie's leading faller, down 16.81p to 330.5p or 5% as the stock turned ex-dividend, meaning shareholders are not entitled to the latest payout. Other ex-div stocks were oil and gas firm Amec and fashion chain Next, which were 2.06p up at 796p and 2.19p up at 2,047p respectively.
Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey was a big blue-chip faller, losing 62p to 1,529p after posting a 21% drop in first-half pretax profit due to lower precious metal prices and a slowdown in automobile sales.
United Utilities shed 1.9p to 484.1p after reduced demand for water from recession-hit businesses and inflated costs weighed on its first-half results.
Peer Severn Trent was 2p up at 1,006p in continuing reaction to its first-half numbers, released Tuesday, and with water companies cautious ahead of Thursday's final price determination review from industry regulator Ofwat.
Disappointing results also weighed on the London Stock Exchange, off 32.5p at 814.5p.
Design and engineering group WS Atkins was the FTSE 250's best performer, up 46p to 604.5p as the firm raised its dividend despite lower profits.
Heading the other way was defence research firm Qinetiq, which was 14.7p lower at 163.8p or 8% after the company said it was unlikely to meet previous expectations due to contract delays in its main UK and US markets.
Elsewhere recruitment firm Harvey Nash slumped almost 17% or 6.78p to 37.72p after profits in the third quarter fell 72% with no sign of an upturn for the final three months of the year.
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