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London open: Stocks rise on hopes over Greece
Market Movers
- techMARK 2,125.06 +0.20%
- FTSE 100 5,952.43 +0.28%
- FTSE 250 12,342.81 +0.40%
UK stocks were making gains in early trading on Wednesday with sentiment being lifted by improving developments in Greece.
Yesterday evening, S&P upgraded its rating for Greece from 'selective default' to 'B-minus'. The yield on a 10-year Greek bond was down 13 basis points at 12.7% this morning.
S&P said: "The upgrade reflects our view of the strong
determination of Eurozone member states to preserve Greek membership.
[…] The outlook on the long-term rating is stable, balancing our view of
the government's commitment to a fiscal and structural adjustment
against the economic and political challenges of doing so."
"European equities are starting the day out on positive note this
morning managing to hold on to yesterday's gain on back of continuing
optimism that US budget negotiations are gaining speed and that a
compromise will be reached before the end of the year," said Markus
Huber, the head of German HNW trading at ETX Capital.
"Furthermore giving markets a lift are expectations that the Bank of
Japan will be announcing further stimulus measures tomorrow when their
two day meeting concludes," he said.
The minutes from the latest Monetary Policy Committee
(MPC) meeting are due out at 09:30 this morning, with markets waiting
to hear the reasons behind the Bank of England's (BoE) decision to hold
rates and quantitative easing (QE). The MPC voted on December 6th to
maintain the official Bank Rate at 0.5% and its current asset purchase
programme at £375bn.
FTSE 100: Banking stocks provide a lift early on
Banking peers RBS, Lloyds and Barclays were among the best performers in the opening hour, joined by building material group CRH which was benefitting from an upgrade by Deutsche Bank to 'buy'.
Heading the other way was distribution and outsourcing firm Bunzl
after buying McCordick Glove & Safety based near Toronto, Canada,
and Atlas Health Care in Adelaide, Australia. The news comes as the
group said that group revenue growth in 2012 is expected to be 6% at
constant exchange rates.
Home improvement retail group Kingfisher
has announced that its Chief Operating Officer (COO) Euan Sutherland is
to leave the company next year to become head of The Co-operative Group
after just a couple of months on the board.
Advertising and media group WPP gained after selling a freehold property at 285 Madison Avenue in New York for $189.24m.
United Utilities was in the red after going ex-dividend, along with Burberry.
FTSE 250: Vesuvius drops after demerger
Vesuvius,
previously known as Cookson, plummeted after announcing that the
demerger of its Performance Materials division to Alent has become
effective.
Berendsen, the European textile maintenance
company, gained after saying that trading continues to be in line with
expectations and that it expects to report "good" year-on-year progress
for 2012.
Oil and gas producer Salamander Energy rose
after it signed two new borrowing facilities together totalling $350m,
designed to extend the maturity of the group's financing, simplify
Salamander's borrowing structure and lower its cost of debt.
| AIM/Small Cap Report |
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FTSE 100 - Risers
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.99p +1.81%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 310.50p +1.77%
Old Mutual (OML) 178.10p +1.71%
Anglo American (AAL) 1,922.50p +1.48%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,535.50p +1.42%
Aviva (AV.) 381.00p +1.38%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 738.50p +1.37%
Wolseley (WOS) 2,830.00p +1.22%
CRH (CRH) 1,181.00p +1.20%
Barclays (BARC) 264.25p +1.19%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Bunzl (BNZL) 1,013.00p -4.97%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,239.00p -1.74%
GKN (GKN) 225.50p -1.40%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 694.00p -0.79%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,927.00p -0.77%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,691.00p -0.76%
Pearson (PSON) 1,199.00p -0.50%
Experian (EXPN) 1,005.00p -0.49%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,180.00p -0.42%
Kingfisher (KGF) 276.00p -0.36%
FTSE 250 - Risers
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 303.20p +4.55%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 100.10p +3.62%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 172.50p +3.23%
William Hill (WMH) 344.70p +3.11%
Synthomer (SYNT) 187.40p +2.68%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 168.00p +2.00%
Galliford Try (GFRD) 744.00p +1.92%
Dignity (DTY) 1,064.00p +1.92%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 31.37p +1.85%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 448.10p +1.84%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Vesuvius (VSVS) 335.10p -48.05%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 39.00p -7.36%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 79.50p -2.03%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 488.10p -1.19%
NMC Health (NMC) 173.00p -1.14%
Utilico Emerging Markets Ltd (DI) (UEM) 164.60p -1.14%
Halfords Group (HFD) 343.00p -1.01%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 71.05p -0.98%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 269.10p -0.96%
Grainger (GRI) 118.60p -0.92%
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| UK Event Calendar |
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| FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |
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INTERIM DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Vedanta Resources
INTERIM EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Betfair
Group, Burberry Group, Greene King, Halfords Group, JPMorgan Euro Small
Co. Trust, Juridica Investments Ltd., United Utilities Group
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
Balance of Payments (EU) (09:00)
Balance of Trade (EU) (10:00)
Building Permits (US) (13:30)
Crude Oil Inventories (US) (15:30)
Current Account (EU) (09:00)
Housing Starts (US) (13:30)
IFO Business Climate (GER) (09:00)
IFO Current Assessment (GER) (09:00)
IFO Expectations (GER) (09:00)
MBA Mortgage Applications (US) (12:00)
GMS
Adventis Group, Invensys
SPECIAL DIVIDEND PAYMENT DATE
Lancashire Holdings
EGMS
EMED Mining Public Ltd., JSC Acron GDR (Reg S)
AGMS
AXA Property Trust Ltd, Craven House Capital, Kedco, Noble Investments (UK), Sportingbet, Westmount Energy Ltd.
UK ECONOMIC ANNOUNCEMENTS
BoE Interest Rate Minutes (09:30)
CBI Distributive Trades Surveys (11:00)
FINAL EX-DIVIDEND DATE
Artemis VCT, Carr's Milling Industries, JPMorgan Chinese Inv Trust, OMG, Sportingbet
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| US Market Report |
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Bank of America and Nokia lead trading on NYSE
Dow Jones Industrials: 0.90%
Nasdaq Comp.: 1.38%
S&P 500: 1.09%
Risk aversion lower, stocks higher and bonds down; in essence that is
the best summary of what is now transpiring in the market place. The
only caveat would seem to be the fact that trading volumes are on the
wane as Christmas approaches.
The above follows yesterday´s
late surge higher and as investors wait for Republicans´ reaction to
Obama´s concessions yesterday.
Also worth pointing out, the multiple 'take-overs' which have been announced today.
Coca Cola Enterprises 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 was also benefitting from positive comments
out of analysts at Bank of America who were telling clients that the
selling may now be overdone.
ConocoPhillips is to sell one of its units to Pertamina for $1.75bn.
Wells Fargo bought a 35% stake in hedge-fund firm Rock Creek Group.
Nielsen will acquire Arbitron for $1.2bn.
American International Group
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.
Analysts at RBC raised their price target on shares of Amazon.com to $300 from $250 before.
Shares of Bank of America
- the best performing Dow component of 2012 - were again higher a day
after Meredith Whitney upgraded her view on the lender´s shares.
The best performing industry groups were Real estate services (3.28%), Oil equipment stocks (3.13%) and Tires (3.06%).
The most heavily traded individual shares on the NYSE were: Bank of America, Nokia and Arbitron.
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.
Long-term yields back up
Front month West Texas crude futures rose by 0.84% to the 87.93 dollar per barrel on the NYMEX.
10 year US Treasury yields are now rising by 5 basis points, at 1.82%.
S&P 500 - Risers
Nabors Industries Ltd. (NBR) $14.51 +5.68%
F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV) $97.29 +5.06%
Apollo Group Inc. (APOL) $22.15 +4.93%
Seagate Technology Plc (STX) $29.36 +4.67%
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co. (RRD) $8.98 +4.66%
Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI) $29.79 +4.53%
Cameron International Corp. (CAM) $56.82 +4.53%
JDS Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $13.19 +4.52%
FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $21.34 +4.45%
Alpha Natural Res (ANR) $9.89 +4.44%
S&P 500 - Fallers
Limited Brands Inc. (LTD) $48.34 -6.03%
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) $14.91 -3.31%
J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (JCP) $20.17 -2.28%
Lorillard Inc. (LO) $116.09 -2.26%
Paychex Inc. (PAYX) $33.16 -2.24%
Reynolds American Inc. (RAI) $41.94 -2.19%
NRG Energy Inc. (NRG) $23.11 -1.45%
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) $12.12 -1.22%
Altria Group Inc. (MO) $32.59 -1.21%
General Electric Co. (GE) $21.69 -1.09%
Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Bank of America Corp. (BAC) $11.36 +3.27%
United Technologies Corp. (UTX) $82.23 +2.80%
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) $14.53 +2.25%
Walt Disney Co. (DIS) $50.22 +1.91%
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.96 +1.90%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $8.91 +1.83%
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) $27.56 +1.72%
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK) $44.24 +1.40%
Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) $20.38 +1.35%
Chevron Corp. (CVX) $110.10 +1.31%
Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
General Electric Co. (GE) $21.69 -1.09%
Mondelez International Inc. (MDLZ) $25.89 -0.61%
Coca-Cola Co. (KO) $37.28 -0.59%
Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) $43.87 -0.57%
Home Depot Inc. (HD) $63.00 -0.49%
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| Wednesday newspaper round-up |
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Nissan, UBS, Barclays...
Britain’s
biggest carmaker has given the British automotive industry a big boost
by announcing it is to start building premium-priced cars under its
upmarket Infiniti brand in Sunderland. The move by Nissan, which
is already bringing Britain its first mass-produced all-electric car,
the Leaf, will create a further 1,000 jobs and secure the Japanese
company’s position as one of Britain’s most important manufacturers. [The Times]
Swiss bank UBS
was hit with a $1.5bn bill and admitted to fraud today in order to
settle charges of manipulating global benchmark interest rates. The
penalty agreed with US, UK and Swiss regulators is more than three times
the $450 million fine levied on Barclays in June for rigging the Libor
benchmark rate used to price financial contracts around the globe. It is
the second-largest fine paid by a bank and comes a week after HSBC
agreed to pay the biggest ever penalty - $1.92 billion - to settle a
probe in the United States into laundering money for drug cartels. [The Independent]
Former FSA chief Hector Sants has secured total remuneration worth as much as £3m as part of his move to Barclays
next month, according to people familiar with the deal. That would make
him one of the 10 highest paid executives at Barclays. [Financial Times]
Royal Bank of Scotland
and its NatWest offshoot is paying out £10 million in refunds to
300,000 customers whose money it pocketed when they forgot to take their
cash after making withdrawals. Unlike other banks, which have a policy
of automatically crediting people’s accounts when they leave money
behind at cash machines, state-owned RBS until recently diverted the
money into its own “reserves” account and only repaid it if a customer
complained. [The Times]
Cerberus Capital Management
announced it was selling the American gun company which it helped to
create amid a strong investor backlash against firearms firms. The
private equity giant said it would “immediately engage in a formal
process” to sell Freedom Group, one of America's biggest firearms
firms and the manufacturer of the Bushmaster AR-15 semi-automatic rifle
used in the Sandy Hook massacre on Friday. Cerberus made it clear it
was “not our role to take positions, or attempt to shape or influence
the gun control policy debate”. But in its statement the investment firm
said the “Sandy Hook tragedy was a watershed event that has raised the
national debate on gun control to an unprecedented level.” [The Telegraph]
The business secretary, Vince Cable, has ordered an inquiry into the collapse of high street electricals chain Comet
after the government was left with a £50m bill in unpaid taxes and
redundancy costs. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
(BIS) confirmed that the Insolvency Service had begun a "fact-finding"
investigation into the high street chain's failure: "The purpose of the
inquiry is to investigate the circumstances surrounding its insolvency
and establish whether further action is required," said a spokeswoman. [The Guardian]
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