London close: FTSE 100 finishes strongly on 'fiscal cliff' optimism
Market Movers
- techMARK 2,120.84 +0.62%
- FTSE 100 5,935.90 +0.40%
- FTSE 250 12,293.25 +0.61%
- US budget negotiations lift hopes
- G4S up on renewed confidence
- FTSE 250 at all-time high
UK markets finished with strong gains on Tuesday afternoon as 'fiscal cliff' hopes spurred investors' appetites for riskier assets, such as mining stocks.
The second-tier FTSE 250 index was trading at a record high
today, while Frankfurt's DAX was close to its best levels since 2008.
However, as financial sales trader Toby Morris from CMC Markets pointed
out this afternoon, "the FTSE 100 has once again underperformed finding
progress above its recent highs somewhat problematic".
Eyes were kept firmly on budget negotiations Stateside today after President Barack Obama
last night proposed raising taxes for those that earn over $400,000, a
higher threshold than the $250,000 annual salary he had previously
targeted.
Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner said
that he is working on a "plan B" to "protect as many American taxpayers
as we can". Under his new plan, tax increases will only be imposed on
those earning over $1m a year.
"Markets feel that after days
of slow progress, we are finally seeing a step-up in the pace of budget
negotiations," said market strategist Ishaq Siddiqi from ETX Capital.
"Much work remains for US lawmakers however, who will have to endorse
proposals but the last two days provides the market with a degree of
confidence that we are seeing some constructive dialogue in Washington."
Economic news elsewhere was thin on the ground today,
with Spanish and Greek bond auctions going smoothly and UK consumer
price inflation staying unchanged at 2.7% in November.
FTSE 100: G4S and the miners provide a boost
Security solutions group G4S
was a high riser after the Department of Work and Pensions confirmed
that it was among six companies on its list of potential bidders for
welfare-benefit call-centre contracts worth £150m over four years.
Seymour Pierce analyst Caroline de la Soujeole said that this "puts to
bed any idea that the government is having cold feet on outsourcing
following G4S's Olympic problems". Other potential bidders include Serco
and Capita. The stock was upgraded this morning by Panmure Gordon from
'hold' to 'buy'.
Mining stocks were performing well today,
tracking commodities prices higher on hopes that the US economy can
avert the 'fiscal cliff'. Vedanta, EVRAZ and Rio Tinto were among the best performers. However, Kazakhmys was bucking the red after Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating on the stock to 'hold' and cut its target from 1,066p to 746p.
Temporary power and temperature control group Aggreko
rose, shrugging off a downgrade by Espirito Santo (to 'neutral') and
several target cuts from other brokers (including JP Morgan Cazenove,
Morgan Stanley and UBS), as it attempts to rebound after yesterday's
steep falls. The stock finished yesterday's session down 22% after
warning that revenues in 2013 would likely be lower than this year. The
shares rose just 2% today.
Oilfield services giant Petrofac
was lower despite reiterating its target of achieving net profit growth
of at least 15% this year, saying that operations continue to perform
in line with expectations.
Whitbread gained after
saying that it has raised £51.04m from the sale and leaseback of seven
Premier Inns and joint-site restaurants. The price represents a profit
over book value of £19.6m.
Engineering group Rolls-Royce
rose after signing a $1bn contract, at list prices, with Japan's
Skymark Airlines for Trent 900 engines to power six Airbus A380
aircraft.
FTSE 250: New World surges on coal demand hopes
Central Europe-focused hard coal and coke producer New World Resources
jumped after the International Energy Agency (IEA) said that coal will
come close to surpassing oil as the world's top energy source by 2017.
Despite the upbeat outlook for coal, oil stocks were in demand as crude prices. Heritage Oil and Essar Energy
were making gains, with the former lifted after saying that it has
acquired 1.9m shares in Toronto-listed peer PetroFrontier, taking its
stake to nearly 20%.
Insurance groups Hiscox and Catlin
were lower after revealing their estimates for the impact of Superstorm
Sandy. Hiscox estimates net claims of around £90m, while Catlin
predicts Sandy-related losses of $200m. Sector peer Beazley, which last week estimated its losses at $90m, was also lower today.
Support services and construction group Interserve gained after acquiring Advantage Healthcare from Rutland Partners and management for a cash consideration of £26.5m.
Egyptian gold miner Centamin
continued to rise after saying yesterday that gold exports had resumed
at its flagship Sukari mine. Investors are now waiting for mining
operations to restart at the project following last week's suspension.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,568.00p +2.82%
G4S (GFS) 257.00p +2.68%
Pearson (PSON) 1,205.00p +2.55%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,143.00p +2.51%
Carnival (CCL) 2,532.00p +2.47%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,704.00p +2.40%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 880.00p +2.39%
BAE Systems (BA.) 346.00p +2.22%
Capita (CPI) 771.50p +2.19%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,894.50p +2.05%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 156.25p -1.23%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,661.00p -1.13%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,150.00p -1.13%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 694.00p -0.72%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 699.50p -0.71%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 777.00p -0.70%
Rexam (REX) 440.00p -0.61%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,176.00p -0.56%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 762.00p -0.52%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,796.00p -0.46%
FTSE 250 - Risers
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 290.00p +10.02%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 410.90p +7.14%
FirstGroup (FGP) 200.70p +5.30%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 185.60p +5.16%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 81.15p +4.71%
IP Group (IPO) 111.00p +4.23%
Shanks Group (SKS) 85.25p +3.40%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 425.40p +3.25%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 231.00p +3.17%
Afren (AFR) 131.60p +3.05%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Renishaw (RSW) 1,860.00p -2.77%
Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 388.30p -2.56%
Ruspetro (RPO) 76.70p -2.11%
NMC Health (NMC) 175.00p -1.96%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 105.90p -1.94%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 491.30p -1.94%
Synthomer (SYNT) 182.50p -1.72%
Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 489.10p -1.63%
BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 18.95 -1.30%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,001.00p -1.28%
| Europe Market Report |
 |
| FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |
 |  |  |  |
|
Europe midday: Stocks steady ahead of US data
-Stock rose as US fiscal cliff fears diminished
-Core country bond yields increased slightly as haven demand receded
-Spanish banks´ bad loan ratio rose to 11.23 per cent for October
-Riksbank lowered benchmark policy rate
-Greek and Spanish bill auctions went off without a hitch
FTSE-100: 0.39%
Dax-30: 0.40%
Cac-40: -0.05%
FTSE Mibtel 30: 0.34%
Ibex 35: 0.82%
Stoxx 600: 0.3o%
The largest European equity benchmarks were still registering small
gains by the midday mark following news overnight of concessions by US
President Barack Obama on the fiscal front.
Worth noting –
perhaps – there was some market chatter regarding pressure on core
European bond yields, while on the periphery long-term interest rates
were down a tad. The former seemed to be a result of diminished haven
bids.
Acting as a backdrop, Sweden´s central bank opted on
Tuesday to lower its benchmark policy rate by 25 basis points, to 1%, as
expected.
Not to be missed, Spanish banks´ bad loan ratio rose to 11.23% in October, after a reading of 10.71% for the previous month.
Both the Greek and Spanish bill auctions went off without a hitch.
News that Chinese officials had again set a 7.5% target for their
economy´s rate of expansion (in 2013), at their annual central economic
work conference, buoyed mining and basic resource stocks.
Renault to ´near-shore´ to Algeria
French automaker Renault was on Wednesday expected to sign an agreement to build its first factory in Algeria.
Gulf carrier Etihad Airways
will purchase a 70% stake in Air Berlin's frequent-flyer programme as
the German airline seeks to cut costs and pay down debt, Reuters
reported.
The largest rises on the Stoxx 600 are now to be
seen in the following industrial groups: Basic resources (1.05%),
Technology (0.65%) and Banks (0.57%).
Ireland´s economy grew more or less as was expected
Irish third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at a 0.2%
quarter-on-quarter pace (Consensus: 0.7%). That disparity, however, was
made up by an upwards revision to the prior month´s reading.
Italy´s current account deficit improved to €245m in October after a reading of €2.6bn for the previous month. Moderate rise in crude futures
The euro/dollar was edging higher by 0.20% to the 1.3186 dollar mark.
Front month Brent crude futures were rising by 0.536 dollars, to the 108.26 dollar per barrel mark on the ICE.
| US Market Report |
US open: Homebuilder confidence back at levels from 2006
-Home builder confidence at 2006 levels
-Several M and A transactions in the news
-Single currency moving higher
Dow Jones Industrials: 0.42%
Nasdaq Comp.: 0.84%
S&P 500: 0.60%
The main US equity benchmarks are now registering moderate gains. That
following yesterday´s late surge higher and as investors wait for
Republicans´ reaction to Obama´s concessions yesterday.
Coca Cola Enterprises has guided higher on its 2012 earnings per share while the broker Jefferies latest quarterly results have come in well ahead of forecasts.
Samsung has cancelled its lawsuits on patent infringement claims against Apple in Europe.
The technology manufacturer may also benefit from positive comments out
of analysts at bank of America who were telling clients that the
selling may be oversold.
ConocoPhillips is to sell one of its units to Pertamina for $1.75bn.
Wells Fargo has bought a 35% stake in hedge-fund firm Rock Creek Group.
Nielsen will acquire Arbitron for $1.2bn.
American International Group
has raised $6.45bn from the sale of its remaining stake in AIA Group
via a Hong Kong listing, pricing shares in the top half of the range.
Oilfield services outfit Baker Hughes
has warned that its fourth-quarter profit margin and sales will be
lower than expected because of weaker North American onshore activity.
Home builder confidence back at April 2006 levels
The
NAHB home builders´ confidence index for the month of December
increased to 47 points after a reading of 45 points in the month before
(down from a preliminary reading of 46).
The US third quarter
current account deficit decreased to 107.5bn dollars, after a reading of
118.1bn dollars for the previous quarter (Consensus: 103bn dollars).
Same store weekly retail chain sales grew by 4.3% according to the latest ICSC survey data.
Month to date same-store retail sales have fallen by 0.2% according to Redbook.
Moderate rise in crude futures
Front month West Texas crude futures rose by 0.60% to the 87.70 dollar per barrel on the NYMEX.
10 year US Treasury yields are now rising by 2 basis points, at 1.78%.
S&P 500 - Risers
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $22.18 +5.07%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $29.18 +4.03%
Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) $42.04 +3.44%
Stanley Black & Decker Inc. (SWK) $74.58 +3.37%
Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (PXD) $107.87 +3.21%
Tenet Healthcare Corp. (THC) $32.15 +3.13%
Cliffs Natural Resources Inc. (CLF) $34.98 +3.11%
Ryder System Inc. (R) $50.32 +3.07%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $93.88 +3.06%
Parker-Hannifin Corp. (PH) $86.14 +3.05%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Limited Brands Inc. (LTD) $48.68 -5.37%
Lorillard Inc. (LO) $115.70 -2.59%
Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) $41.94 -2.19%
General Electric Co. (GE) $21.51 -1.89%
Altria Group Inc. (MO) $32.46 -1.61%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $33.38 -1.59%
Sprint Nextel Corporation (S) $5.47 -1.53%
Dean Foods Co. (DF) $16.38 -1.50%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $15.20 -1.39%
Philip Morris International Inc. (PM) $86.23 -1.33%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.15 +1.41%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $81.09 +1.38%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.87 +1.37%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $90.78 +1.27%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $27.38 +1.05%
American Express Co. (AXP) $57.86 +1.03%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.74 +0.83%
Pfizer Inc. (PFE) $25.56 +0.81%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $109.52 +0.77%
E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DD) $44.94 +0.68%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
General Electric Co. (GE) $21.51 -1.89%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $43.78 -0.77%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $62.94 -0.58%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $37.34 -0.43%
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) $70.64 -0.42%
Procter & Gamble Co. (PG) $69.70 -0.33%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $14.17 -0.28%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $26.00 -0.21%
Boeing Co. (BA) $74.60 -0.07%
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) $69.19 -0.01%
Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $22.18 +5.07%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $29.18 +4.03%
Fossil Inc. (FOSL) $93.88 +3.06%
Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) $33.49 +3.05%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $8.56 +2.94%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $95.28 +2.89%
Dell Inc. (DELL) $10.54 +2.78%
Sandisk Corp. (SNDK) $43.82 +2.70%
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) $97.19 +2.62%
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR) $39.95 +2.62%
Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Research in Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $13.52 -2.91%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $33.38 -1.59%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $15.20 -1.39%
Flextronics International Ltd. (FLEX) $6.05 -1.30%
Vodafone Group Plc ADS (VOD) $25.44 -0.74%
Starbucks Corp. (SBUX) $54.36 -0.40%
Intuitive Surgical Inc. (ISRG) $548.93 -0.38%
Monster Beverage Corp (MNST) $52.60 -0.30%
Ross Stores Inc. (ROST) $54.50 -0.29%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $26.00 -0.21%
| Broker Tips |
Broker tips: Burberry, G4S, Cairn Energy
Following last week's Burberry management roadshow in New York, Credit Suisse has maintained its 'outperform' rating and 1,430p target for the luxury brand group.
The broker said that the meeting "reinforced our belief that Burberry's brand elevation and leading digital media story remains intact".
Panmure Gordon has upgraded its rating for security solutions group G4S from 'hold' to 'buy', saying that the stock could rebound following recent underperformance.
"We think there is scope for the shares to recover back to its
pre-Olympic peak, and do not subscribe to the view that the UK
Government outsourcing market is firmly shut for the company," the
broker said.
"As the outsourcing sector has continued to
re-rate, G4S has stood still presenting an attractive entry point
heading into 2013E in our view."
Cairn Energy shares were performing well on Tuesday morning, helped by a ratings upgrade by UBS from 'neutral' to 'buy'.
Following a 12% fall for the shares in 2012 so far, UBS said it sees an
"excellent entry point" on a longer-term horizon with downside looking
well protected.
|
|
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment