LONDON (ShareCast) - - Aberdeen rockets after acquisition of SWIP, results
- Petrofac plummets after cautious guidance
- FOMC minutes and China reforms in focus
techMARK 2,647.58 -0.06%
FTSE 100 6,721.15 +0.41%
FTSE 250 15,272.88 +0.17%
After a subdued start, UK markets pushed into positive territory by Monday lunchtime as strong gains from Aberdeen and a host of financial stocks outweighed a heavy fall by Petrofac.
With the economic data calendar looking pretty light over the next two days, investors are likely to turn most of their attention to the minutes of October's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting due to be released on Wednesday.
Although few are still expecting the Fed to begin scaling back its asset purchase programme this year - especially after Fed Chair nominee Janet Yellen's dovish comments last week - investors will be looking out for hints of a potential timeframe for the 'taper'.
"Last week’s testimony from Janet Yellen is continuing to buoy investors this morning, with many taking her comments to mean that tapering is unlikely before the first quarter of 2014 at the earliest," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.
"As long as investors continue to believe this, the S&P and Dow are likely to continue to record all-time highs on an almost daily basis," he said.
US stock futures were pointing to a small increase ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both set to extend gains after reaching record highs on Friday.
A strong performance on the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong overnight was also helping market sentiment this morning as investors enthusiastically welcomed a sweeping package of Chinese economic reforms. Beijing outlined the biggest restructuring of its economy in decades, saying that the government would open the financial sector and relax investment restrictions.
Aberdeen rockets; Petrofac plummets
Aberdeen was up 14% by midday after saying that it would acquire Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Group from Lloyds. The company also reported annual pre-tax profit jumped 39% on net revenue up 24%, as it raised its full-year dividend by 39% to 16p per share.
Lloyds was also higher following its disposal, along with banking peers Standard Chartered, RBS, Barclays and HSBC.
Heading the other way was oilfield services firm Petrofac which dropped sharply after saying that net income in 2014 would show "flat to modest growth year-on-year". The company also said that targets for 2015 were dependent on the timing of certain contracts. The stock fell as much as 17%.a
Outsourcing group Capita was in the red after announcing that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Pindar has called it quits after 26 years with the firm.
Severn Trent was also lower after saying that CEO Tony Wray would retire next year and be replaced by the current head of BT's Openreach operations.
IAG was a high riser as investors digest Friday's upwardly revised profit guidance for 2015. Both Nomura and UBS lifted their target prices for the stock this morning.
Meanwhile, Vedanta was also higher, rebounding after some heavy falls following its first-half report released the previous session. Credit Suisse cut its target price for the shares this morning but kept an 'outperform' rating, saying that it remains an "attractive structural story".
FTSE 100 - Risers
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 488.30p +14.41%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 979.00p +2.46%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,484.00p +1.92%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 367.90p +1.57%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 334.80p +1.45%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 76.40p +1.35%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,497.00p +1.35%
GKN (GKN) 372.50p +1.31%
Centrica (CNA) 347.30p +1.17%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,117.50p +1.07%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,200.00p -16.61%
Fresnillo (FRES) 911.50p -3.19%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,515.00p -1.55%
CRH (CRH) 1,575.00p -1.01%
Capita (CPI) 974.50p -0.86%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,255.00p -0.79%
Standard Life (SL.) 337.10p -0.77%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 211.40p -0.70%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,857.00p -0.59%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,709.00p -0.58%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Laird (LRD) 257.90p +3.53%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 247.20p +2.96%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 322.20p +2.87%
Man Group (EMG) 85.45p +2.83%
RPC Group (RPC) 497.40p +2.56%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 437.80p +2.43%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,150.00p +2.28%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 105.50p +2.03%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 110.70p +1.84%
Schroder Asia Pacific Fund (SDP) 251.40p +1.74%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Aveva Group (AVV) 2,360.00p -8.03%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,449.00p -3.08%
Lonmin (LMI) 332.70p -2.26%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 108.70p -2.07%
Synergy Health (SYR) 1,050.00p -1.78%
Telecity Group (TCY) 652.50p -1.58%
Devro (DVO) 310.20p -1.52%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 335.90p -1.50%
Chemring Group (CHG) 202.00p -1.46%
Polymetal International (POLY) 550.00p -1.43%
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