UK Jobless Claims Rise; WS Atkins Soars 7%

Arthi Gupta
13 Apr, 2011
New York City

The UK indexes rose led by miners. The UK jobless claims rose unexpectedly in March. Irish consumer sentiment improved in March. WS Atkins surged after forecasting better-than-estimated results for fiscal year 2011.

[R]3:45 PM London – The UK indexes rose led by miners. The UK jobless claims rose unexpectedly in March. Irish consumer sentiment improved in March. WS Atkins surged after forecasting better-than-estimated results for fiscal year 2011.[/R]

UK stocks edged higher tracking gains in the international markets and commodities retained positive bias. UK jobless claims were stable in March and unemployment rate was stable in the month and in three months to the quarter.

In London, FTSE 100 Index gained 56.46 or 0.95% to 6,020.93 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.6264.

UK Jobless Claims Rise

The UK jobless claims increased unexpectedly in March on the changes in benefit rules. The number of people claiming Jobseeker''s Allowance rose 700 in March to 1.45 million, labor market statistics from the Office for National Statistics showed today.

However, the unemployment rate in March was unchanged at 4.5% from February.

For the three months to February, the jobless rate was 7.8%, down 0.1 percentage point on the quarter. The total number of unemployed people fell 17,000 over the quarter to 2.48 million.

Irish Consumer Sentiment Improves

Irish consumer confidence improved markedly in March, as households'' expectations for their economic condition turned positive after the new government, a survey conducted by KBC Bank Ireland and the Economic and Social Research Institute showed on Wednesday.

The consumer confidence index climbed to 59.5 in March from 50.3 in February.

Gainers & Losers

ASOS plc fell 2.23% to 1,707.00 pence after the Internet fashion retailer reported fourth quarter retail sales grew 70% to £93.38 million from £54.85 million in the prior year, with UK’s revenues up 24% to £44.9 million and the international division’s soaring by 161% to £48.4 million.

JD Sports Fashion Plc slumped 3.27% to 872.00 pence after the teen outfitter reported fiscal year 2011 revenue rose 14.8% to £883.67 million from £769.79 million in the previous year, with like-for-like revenue increasing 3.1%.

The company''s fiscal year 2011 profit rose 30.2% to £55.88 million or 114.84 pence per share compared with £42.90 million or 88.16 pence per share a year ago.

Noble Investments (UK) Plc gained 2.72% to 151.00 pence after the company engaged in collectibles retail trading and auctions said first-half revenue declined 8.3% to £6.52 million compared to £7.11 million in the previous year.

Profit for the period was up 37.4% to £1.09 million from £793,000 in the previous year. On a per share basis, earnings were 7.41 pence versus 5.01 pence last year.

Styles & Wood Group PLC dropped 2.89% to 12.75 pence after the provider of property support to major retailers, banks and commercial organizations reported fiscal 2010 revenue decreased 28.8% to £99.12 million from £139.29 million in the prior year.

Loss for the year narrowed 48.5% to £0.86 million or 1.4 pence per share from £1.67 million or 4.7 pence per share last year.

Unilever plc rose 1.31% to 1,940 pence after the supplier of consumer goods said it reached a settlement with the European Commission after its investigation into the implementation of the European detergents industry''s Code of Good Environmental Practice.

As part of the settlement the company will pay €104 million.

WS Atkins plc surged 7.19% to 738.00 pence after the engineering and design consultant estimated results of the year ended March ahead of current market expectations after a strong performance at its Middle East business.