UK Food Prices Rise; HSBC, RBS in Focus, Mail.ru IPO surges 30%

Bikram Pandey
05 Nov, 2010
New York City

UK stocks closed fractionally higher. HSBC said bank profit exceed last year but sounded cautious on China and India. Canada based two pension funds agreed to acquire high speed rail link operation rights for thirty years. Food prices surged in October.

[R]5:00 PM London - UK stocks closed fractionally higher. HSBC said bank profit exceed last year but sounded cautious on China and India. Canada based two pension funds agreed to acquire high speed rail link operation rights for thirty years. Food prices surged in October.[/R]

FTSE 100 index rose 0.2% to 5,875.35, CAC 40 index gained 0.17% and the DAX index added 0.2%. FTSE index increased 2.6% in the week.

Mail.ru Group Ltd priced 32.9 million global depository receipts at $27.70 a share and closed up 30% at $36. The operator of social networking site and online games platform was oversubscribed more than eighteen times.

Of the total of $912 million raised, the company sold $84 million of shares and existing investors collected $828 million.

Food prices index in UK rose 9.8% in October from a year ago, and annual input price increase declined to 8% from 8.7%, according to the latest data from the Office of National Statistics. Annual food prices increased 2.1% in October from September.

U.S. payrolls increased 151,000 in October after dropping the revised 41,000 in the previous month, according to the latest data from the U.S. Labor Department. Unemployment in the month hovered at 9.6%

The October employment report is the first after the completion of census conducted every ten years and the federal employment declined to 6,000 from the peak of 586,000 in May.

Bank of Japan also offered to use its 5 trillion or $62 billion asset purchase program to include real estate securities and also index funds that invest in stock indexes.

Canada based two largest pension funds, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and Borealis agreed to pay £2.1 billion to operate high speed railways for the next three decades. The deal is the first privatization transaction by the coalition government.

Stock Movers

Carphone Warehouse soared more than 7% after chief executive Roger Taylor guided annual company earnings per share at 14 pence.

HSBC Holding Plc declined 1.4% to 683 pence after the bank said third quarter net income was “well ahead” of last year. The profit in the period increased 121% to £6.8 billion on the lower loan losses in the U.S.

The bank also said its staff and payroll and bonus increased 39% in global banking and markets in the first half to £1.5 billion from the second half last year.

Mail.ru Group Ltd surged 28% to 35.70 pence on its first day of trading in London after the company successfully raised $910 million.

Rolls-Royce Group Plc dropped 3.3% after Qantas Airway Ltd grounded Airbus A380 planes after a mid-air engine explosion.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc decreased 3.1% to 45.51 pence after the bank third quarter net loss declined to 36% to 1.15 billion pounds. The bank booked charges of 825 million to the government’s asset protection scheme and said that it will pay £250 million in 2011.

Core profit in the core business increased 10% from the second quarter.

Scor SA increased 3% to 18.25 euros after the France based reinsurer said third quarter income increased 18% to 111 million euros.

Smith & Nephew increased 7% to 597.2 pence said third quarter earnings per share increased to 15.4 pence.

Resource stocks traded higher after commodities prices on the decline in dollar. Xstrata Plc increased 3% and Vedanta Plc soared 6% 2,325 pence.