UK Construction Orders Plunge

Arthi Gupta
03 Sep, 2010
New York City

The UK indexes rose after service sector continued to expand for the sixteenth successive month in August. The UK construction orders slumped in the second quarter and net reserves rose in August.

[R]4:30 PM London – The UK indexes rose after service sector continued to expand for the sixteenth successive month in August. The UK construction orders slumped in the second quarter and net reserves rose in August.[/R]

BP said oil spill costs soar to $8 billion to date. Emerson Electric acquired Chloride Group for $1.5 billion. Irish services growth slackened in August.

In London, FTSE 100 Index traded higher 42.82 or 0.79% to 5,413.86 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.5410.

Construction orders in the UK declined sharply in the second quarter, according to data released from the Office for National Statistics today.

The total volume of new construction orders in the second quarter fell 14% from the first quarter. Compared to the same period of 2009, the decline was 9%. The only sector showing a growth in new orders was private industrial.

The UK service sector continued to expand for the sixteenth successive month in August, but the rate of growth eased from July, according to a survey conducted by Markit Economics today.

The headline seasonally adjusted Business Activity Index declined to 51.3 in August from 53.1 in July.

The UK government''s net reserves rose $754 million to $35.52 billion at the end of August, the HM Treasury said today and gross reserves recorded an increase of $555 million to $73.26 billion.

The Bank of England''s net holdings of foreign currency and gold rose by $11 million in August, bringing the end-August total to $5 million compared with negative $6 million at end-July.

The Irish service sector growth slowed in August despite new order growth picking up, according to a new survey data released today.

Markit Economics said the NCB services purchasing managers'' index fell to a seasonally adjusted 52.9 in August from 55.7 in July.

Emerson Electric Co., the diversified technology company completed its acquisition of Chloride Group plc for $1.5 billion. The company noted that the acquisition helps drive Emerson''s long-term global growth strategy for uninterruptible power supply and integrated data center solutions.

BP today provided an update on developments in the response to the MC252 oil well incident in the Gulf of Mexico.

The company said that its total cost of response to the MC252 oil well incident reached about $8 billion to date. The amount includes the cost of the spill response, containment, relief well drilling, static kill and cementing, grants to the Gulf states, claims paid and federal costs.

Gainers & Losers

British Airways Plc rose 1.35% to 224.60 pence after the international scheduled airline reported August traffic of 10.5 billion revenue passenger miles, compared to 10.9 billion revenue passenger miles in the prior-year period.

Coburg Group Plc soared 20% to1.50 pence after the company engaged in the roasting, packing and distribution of coffee beans announced full year profit after tax amounted to £106,000, compared to a loss of £123,000 in the previous year. On a per share basis, net income was 0.45 pence, compared to a loss of 0.52 pence in the prior year. Revenue declined 10.7% to £3.16 million, from £3.54 million last year.

Fyffes Plc gained 3.03% to €0.34 after the marketer and distributor of tropical produce globally said first-half total revenue rose 0.7% to €402.64 million from €399.99 million in the same period of last year. Net profit in the period declined 7.8% to €9.52 million or 2.75 cents as against net profit of €10.33 million or 2.98 cents in the prior-year period.

Norish plc surged 5.97% to 35.50 pence after the third party multi-temperature warehousing and logistics provider reported first-half revenue grew 1% to £4.983 million from £4.939 million in the year-ago period. Net profit in the period rose 5.9% to £0.18 million or 2.1 pence per share compared to net profit of £0.17 million or 2.0 pence per share a year ago.

SOCO International plc plunged 8.08% to 438,10 pence after the explorer said that it reached total depth on the wildcat exploration well Nganga 1 in the Nganzi Block, onshore the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company is preparing to plug and abandon the well, and subsequently move to the Kinganga Nyanya 1 exploration well.