Date: Monday 12 Jul 2010
BP was in the driving seat, helping Footsie to good gains as the oil giant’s shares rallied on the back of bid talk and hopes that the beginning of the end of the Gulf of Mexico oil leak is in sight.BP said the cost of the clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico has risen to $3.5bn from $3.12bn a week ago and $2.65bn at the end of June, although some say that figure could eventually hit $70bn. The first half of August remains the current estimate of the most likely date by which the first relief well will be completed and kill operations performed, the company said.
Press coverage suggesting both Exxon Mobil and Chevron have received White House approval to launch a bid for BP got the market excited. Other press reports suggest the beleaguered UK oil giant is in talks with US independent oil company Apache over the sale of some of BP’s assets in a deal that could raise up to $12bn.
In economic news, GDP figures have not had much effect one way or the other on the market as the Office for National Statistics confirmed that GDP grew by 0.3% in the first quarter of 2010, in line with the last estimate.
Back in the oil sector, Falkland Oil and Gas shares crashed as it failed to find any oil in the East Falkland basin after its first exploration well in the region, Toroa F61/5-1, turned up dry. “The well did not encounter any reservoired hydrocarbons and will now be plugged and abandoned,” said the AIM-listed company, a favourite with small investors.
Also in oil, oil industry services giant Petrofac was strong after saying it has won its first production enhancement services contract in Romania after tying up a deal with Petrom, which owns the Ticleni oilfield and its eight satellite fields.
Defence specialist Cobham was wanted after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock from “neutral” to “buy”.
Banks are off the pace. Confirmation that JC Flowers is to use building society Kent Reliance to launch an assault on the UK retail bank market could mean the space getting very crowded soon. Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are all lower.
Rio Tinto has referred Canadian miner Ivanhoe's breaches of a private placement agreement to arbitration following its adoption of the shareholders rights plan. The mining heavyweight, which recently increased its stake in Ivanhoe to 29.6%, has warned Ivanhoe before it adopted the plan would breach Rio Tinto's contractual rights. Other miners are lower led by Kazakhmys and ENRC, though Antofagasta defies the trend.
Thomas Cook has agreed to buy Öger Tours, a well-known German tour operator specialising in package holidays to Turkey, from its founding shareholder Vural Öger for about €30m. The consideration will be paid in cash.
Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered has agreed to buy GE Commercial Financing, a specialist in SME factoring and hire purchase financing in Singapore.
Meanwhile, strong online sales and a boost from the World Cup helped pizza delivery firm Domino’s post another bumper set of results. Profits jumped 30% to £17m, from £13.1m, in the half year. That’s ahead of consensus of £16.5m. Sales for the 26 weeks ended 27 June 2010 grew by 20.8% to £237.1m (2009: £196.4m).
Housebuilder and contractor Kier's full year underlying profit before tax will be towards the upper end of current market expectations and ahead of last year.
Silicon wafer reclaim specialist Pure Wafer said trading has been broadly in line with management expectations as the industry wide recovery gathers momentum. The group warned however that revenues overall are down due to selling price pressure.FTSE 100 - Risers
BP (BP.) 399.40p +9.48%
Cobham (COB) 234.20p +2.49%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 459.30p +1.93%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 901.00p +1.69%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,568.00p +1.62%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,256.00p +1.62%
Hammerson (HMSO) 360.50p +1.55%
Experian Group (EXPN) 613.00p +1.32%
Aviva (AV.) 345.80p +1.32%
Rexam (REX) 315.10p +1.32%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,057.00p -2.85%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,102.50p -2.21%
Man Group (EMG) 215.80p -1.78%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 854.00p -1.73%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,456.00p -1.69%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,263.00p -1.61%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 6,125.00p -1.61%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,072.00p -1.56%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,385.00p -1.53%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,825.00p -1.48%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 267.30p +5.99%
Inchcape (INCH) 285.10p +5.51%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 768.00p +4.77%
Xchanging (XCH) 210.00p +4.48%
Unite Group (UTG) 186.50p +3.90%
Kier Group (KIE) 977.50p +3.66%
Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd. (GSS) 466.00p +3.53%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,355.00p +3.52%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 299.00p +3.46%
British Assets Trust (BSET) 117.00p +3.36%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Hansen Transmissions International (HSN) 65.55p -6.49%
SIG (SHI) 103.50p -3.18%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 1,202.00p -3.06%
Eaga (EAGA) 112.60p -2.93%
Logica (LOG) 105.40p -2.86%
Drax Group (DRX) 382.60p -2.67%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 468.60p -2.38%
Afren (AFR) 84.55p -2.25%
Mothercare (MTC) 551.00p -2.13%
Carpetright (CPR) 693.50p -2.05%
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