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London close: Oils and pharmas shine
Wed, 08 Feb, 2012
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London close: Oils and pharmas shine
Tue, 22 Dec 2009, 17:27:00
London equities added to the previous day's gains although a late pull-back ensured that rises were not as extensive as yesterday. Oil stocks and pharmaceuticals led the way higher. <b>Cairn Energy</b> enjoyed another strong day after it announced yesterday that it would start its drilling programme in Greenland a year ahead of schedule. The shares were also split on a ten-for-one basis today in a move that was meant to improve the liquidity and marketability of the shares. <b>Royal Dutch Shell</b> and <b>BP</b> also headed higher, despite the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) leaving its production quotas unchanged at its meeting in Angola today. Pharmaceuticals were back in favour, mirroring demand in US trading. <b>GlaxoSmithKline</b> and <b>AstraZeneca</b> were the stand-out stocks in the sector. Mining stocks were a drag on the market, however, as metal prices eased. Losers included <b>Kazakhmys</b>, <b>Xstrata</b> and <b>Fresnillo</b>. <b>London Stock Exchange</b> was another stock basking in the afterglow of an announcement made yesterday, with the markets given a warm reception to its acquisition of a major stake in Turquoise, the trading platform that was set up by banks in 2008 to force LSE to lower its fees. Footsie newcomer <b>Aggreko</b> clawed back some of the losses suffered yesterday on its first day as a member of the blue-chip index, after Merrill Lynch recommended buying the shares. Travel shares were frozen out of the market rise, with <b>British Airways</b> and <b>Thomas Cook</b> the worst affected. The former was lower after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) suggested that the Oneworld alliance, which includes British Airways and American Airlines, could drive up ticket prices on some key routes. The DOJ suggested that the alliance may be required to give up some valuable slots at Heathrow in order to receive US backing for the tie-up. A forecast from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) that house prices will edge up only slightly in 2010 amid continued economic uncertainty did not prevent housebuilders <b>Taylor Wimpey</b> and <b>Barratt Developments</b> from advancing. Goldman Sachs has upgraded both stocks from 'neutral' to 'buy', along with sector peer <b>Berkeley Group</b>. Online poker and casino group <b>888 Holdings</b> has agreed to pay almost £60m for the Wink Online Bingo business and says trading continues to be strong and in line with expectations. The UK mid-cap will buy Wink Bingo, which runs several online bingo networks including Wink Bingo, Posh Bingo and Bingo Fabulous, for an initial consideration of £11m. <b>Gem Diamonds</b> subsidiary <b>Kimberley Diamonds</b> has entered into an agreement to sell yellow diamonds from the Ellendale mine in Western Australia to Laurelton Diamonds, which is owned by the US jeweller Tiffany. A <b>Carillion</b> joint venture has been awarded a £157m contract to design, build, finance and maintain Phase 1b of Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). <b>Hardy Oil and Gas</b> bounced off a nine-month low after announcing the third successive gas discovery in the exploration block KG-DWN-2003/1 (D3) of NELP-V in India. Cash-strapped mining company <b>Alba Mineral</b> has secured various loan facilities of £100,000 from directors and other parties to cover current working capital requirements. The facilities carry a fixed rate of interest of 15% per annum and will remain available to draw upon until the end of June 2011, when all the loans become due. Energy saving products maker <b>VPhase</b> said its loss for the year is likely to be £0.3m less than expected, thanks to tight control of costs. Gold miner <b>Avocet Mining</b> has rallied on news that its Inata mine in Burkina Faso has started gold production. <b>Mavinwood</b>'s share price rose after the document storage services provider said that Lord Ashcroft controlled Geraldton was lending it a further £4m at an annual interest charge of 10%. Geraldton has already provided working capital facilities of £5.1m. Lloyds TSB has cut its facility by £2m to £17.5m. PR adviser <b>Freshwater UK</b> says revenue has been 14% lower than expected in recent months due to delays in projects and therefore full year profits will be below expectations. Freshwater is undertaking a strategic review. <b>Tanfield Group</b>, manufacturer of aerial work platforms and commercial electric vehicles, is to get its old chairman back in the new year. Jon Pither, who was chairman of Tanfield from December 2003 to June 2005, will take over from Roy Stanley as non-executive chairman with effect from 1 January 2010. AIM-listed oil and gas company <b>Ascent Resources</b> is to have another crack in January of next year at drilling the Fontana-1 well in Italy's Frosinone permit, after the first attempt experienced mechanical problems at the target depth. Resource management software provider <b>Atlantic Global</b> says that it will make a full year loss though the second half of the year showed an improvement on the first. Videoconference equipment company <b>Scotty</b> has won a €0.55m of orders from various armed forces for its 'Rollabout' videoconferencing systems, and its new Scotty mobile and Promax units. <b>FTSE 100 - Risers</b> Cairn Energy (CNE) 339.00p +6.34% Rexam (REX) 284.20p +2.41% Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,807.50p +2.29% Unilever (ULVR) 1,990.00p +2.05% Aggreko (AGK) 904.50p +1.97% GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,326.00p +1.92% <b>FTSE 100 - Fallers</b> Fresnillo (FRES) 751.50p -3.72% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 28.93p -2.95% British Airways (BAY) 189.10p -2.02% Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,246.00p -1.19% Xstrata (XTA) 1,042.00p -1.09% Next (NXT) 2,051.00p -0.92%
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