Date: Friday 18 Jun 2010
Hopes of Footsie making it eight days of rises in a row were dashed at the death. Leaders outnumbered laggards among FTSE 100 stocks but with BP giving up the gains of the morning after a downgrade from debt ratings agency Moody’s the blue-chip index ended marginally easier on the day.BP, for once, was not the most widely traded stock, though it did remain one of the day’s major talking points after the eight-hour verbal assault inflicted on chief executive Tony Hayward by US politicians yesterday. Congressmen castigated the BP boss for apparently ignoring the risks his company was taking drilling a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico.
Russian president Dmitry Medvedev later added his two penn’orth, expressing his concern that the penalties likely to hit BP could bankrupt the company. Russia is another major area of development for BP through its joint venture TNK-BP. BP shares have rallied even so.
Spain’s Santander confirmed that it has entered a bid for about 300 high street branches being sold by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The banking giant didn’t comment on any financial details, but market speculation earlier this week suggest a deal could be worth about £1.8bn.
Elsewhere, Capita and Serco were weaker on news yesterday that the new government has put the brakes on £11.5bn of projects casting doubts on growth prospects for two of public sector's favourite outsource companies.
BT was also lower on reports it faces a long-drawn out strike with its blue-collar workers.
Supermarket giant Tesco has been in the doldrums ever since chief executive Sir Terry Leahy announced his intention to leave and there were more boardroom related concerns today, with reports suggesting that some institutional investors are unhappy with the remuneration packages of some directors.
Pharmaceuticals behemoth Glaxo was under the weather after Germany's Federal Joint Committee recommended health insurers should stop paying for Glaxo’s Avandia drug, which the Committee believes may increase the chances of heart disease.
On the bright side insurer Aviva got a lift from JPMorgan Chase, which upgraded the stock to “overweight” and bumped up its price target from 285p to 509p, while Vodafone shareholders were cheered by reports that US company Verizon Wireless, in which it has a 45% stake, will start paying dividends again in 2012.
Engineering services group Lamprell has secured a $129m new contract from Seajacks for the design and construction of a Gusto MSC NG-5500 design self-elevating and self-propelled offshore wind turbine installation vessel. The vessel, named "Seajacks Zaratan", will be constructed at Lamprell's Hamriyah facility and is due to be delivered in 2012.
Canary Wharf owner Songbird has shot ahead on a report that the The Qatar Investment Authority will spend £700m to mop up the 76% it does not already own.
Fund manager Henderson has scrapped its planned acquisition of fund boutiques run by US asset manager RidgeWorth Capital Management after failing to agree terms with owner SunTrust Banks. The £1bn UK firm said discussions “have been discontinued as the parties have not reached agreement on terms”.
Blue-collar recruitment and training specialist Staffline now expects earnings for both the first half and full financial year to be significantly ahead of current expectations. The company upped its forecasts thanks to a number of new business wins and the impact of recent acquisitions together with increased demand from existing clients.
Giant TV screen renter Avesco halved interim loses and expects to make a trading profit for the full year buoyed by orders for the World Cup and World Expo in Shanghai.
Kazakhstan-focused oil explorer Roxi has firmed up its estimate of reserves at its main Galaz prospect. Estimates for total gross proved recoverable oil reserves on the NW Konys field are 2.4m barrels, total proved plus probable are 7.5m barrels while there are 10.9m barrels including possible reserves.
British wireless communications technology firm Innovision Research & Technology has been snapped up by American giant Broadcom Corporation for £32m, almost twice its value yesterday evening. The AIM-listed company’s shareholders will get 35p in cash for each Innovision share compared with a closing price of just 19p when the stock market closed on Thursday, an 84% premium.Music copyright group Conexion Media narrowed losses in the year to December 31 despite lower revenues. Pre-tax losses fell to £630,000 from £1.6m on revenues that were down to £3.4m from £4m.
Shares in Condor Resources soared after the metals explorer was granted 45 square kilometres of land which it believes contains a goldfield.
Warner Estate Holdings warns that the property market is showing signs of running out of steam. The property market has done well since last summer and that has helped valuations to recover. However, Warner still went from a net asset value of £4.2m to net liabilities of £4m at the end of March 2010.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,060.00p +3.41%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 6,420.00p +2.72%
Kingfisher (KGF) 229.80p +2.68%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 434.80p +2.43%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,664.00p +2.21%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 352.50p +2.17%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,029.50p +1.88%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 332.20p +1.78%
Aviva (AV.) 354.00p +1.67%
Man Group (EMG) 248.10p +1.56%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
BT Group (BT.A) 137.00p -1.86%
Capita Group (CPI) 785.50p -1.75%
Tesco (TSCO) 390.85p -1.65%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 56.36p -1.45%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,197.50p -1.44%
BP (BP.) 355.25p -1.24%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,930.00p -1.23%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,173.00p -1.14%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 999.50p -1.04%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,241.00p -1.04%
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