UK Households Confidence Improves; Aurelian O&G Slumps 60%

Arthi Gupta
16 Sep, 2011
New York City

The UK indexes rose ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers in Poland. The UK households

[R]2:30 PM London – The UK indexes rose ahead of a meeting of European finance ministers in Poland. The UK households’ confidence improved in September. BoE Deputy Governor sounded optimistic note that the UK growth will gain momentum next year. Cooper Industries lowered third quarter and fiscal year earnings views.[/R]

The UK markets advanced in early trading after four central banks coordinated actions to provide dollar liquidity eased the tension in the short term debt market.

The Bank of Japan and central banks in UK, Switzerland coordinated with the U.S. Federal Reserve to offer three month short term funding in dollars to European banks. The European Central Bank will increase the loan maturity to 3-months from one week as banks struggle to refinance their needs.

A meeting of European finance officials is scheduled in Wroclaw, Poland to discuss the sovereign crisis. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is expected to urge EU finance ministers to step up their crisis-fighting strategy.

The UK economic growth will gain momentum next year, and inflation is likely to come down, Bank of England Deputy Governor for Monetary Policy Charles Bean said in an interview to The Sun.

""There is light at the end of the tunnel,"" he said.

In London, FTSE 100 Index gained 46.45 or 0.87% to 5,384.22 and the pound edged lower to $1.5783. For the week, the FTSE 100 Index soared 3.2%.

UK Households Confidence Improves

UK households'' expectations of their home prices improved to the highest in one year in September, data from a survey conducted by Markit Economics and Knight Frank showed today.

The future home price sentiment index, which measures expectations of home prices in the next twelve months, rose to 53.6 in September from 48.5 in August.

The home price sentiment index increased to 44.7 in September from 41.5 in August.

Gainers & Losers

Aurelian Oil & Gas PLC plunged 60.3% to 18.25 pence after the upstream oil and gas explorer and producer focused on Central Europe reported that the gas recovery from the Trzek-3 appraisal well is lower than anticipated and the recoverable resource could be between 4 billion to 8 billion cubic feet rather than the 16 to 20 bcf estimated by the company.

The well is also producing higher levels of water than expected.

Close Brothers Group Plc gained 0.4% to 684.50 pence after the financial services group entered into an agreement via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Close Derivatives Ltd. for the phased sale of its entire 49.9% interest in Mako Global Derivatives Executive LLP to the Mako executive directors and staff.

Cooper Industries plc climbed 1% to $48.21 after the electrical distribution equipment maker estimates third quarter earnings in the range of $0.94 to $0.98 per share, compared to its prior forecast of $0.98 to $1.03 per share.

For the full-year 2011, earnings are estimated in the range of $3.75 to $3.82 per share compared to $3.80 to $3.90 per share previously forecast.

Domino Printing Sciences Plc slumped 11.4% to 498 pence after the food label printing technology firm said sales in the first 10 months of its financial year rose 4% from the year-ago period.

Oxford Catalysts Group PLC climbed 0.7% to 58.90 pence after the fuel production technology group first-half sales slumped 29.3% to £2.9 million from £4.1 million. Pre-tax loss widened 14% to £4.2 million from £3.7 million.