Marks & Spencer Boosts London

Ivaylo
07 Nov, 2006
New York City

Clothing and food retailer Marks & Spencer led the advancers on the FTSE 100 on the back of interim figures that came in right at the top of forecasts. Yellow Pages owner Yell led the decline after pre-tax profit fell. Associated British Foods reported a drop in full year profit after price pressures in its EU sugar businesses. Brewer Scottish & Newcastle also declined despite saying results for the third quarter have been robust. The FTSE 100 moved 0.1% higher to 6,232.5.

[R]9:30AM London benchmark index advances supported by Marks and Spencer.[/R]
The FTSE 100 in London moved 0.1% higher to 6,232.5, a gain of only eight points but
enough to take it to renewed five-year highs.

Advancers

Retailers led the advance after strong interim numbers from Marks and Spencer. Shares in the high street favourite were 5.8% stronger after its adjusted profit before tax rose 32%.

The improving sentiment on US equities markets helped Amvescap, the fund manager highly exposed to the US, to gain 0.8%.

Barclays advanced 0.6% after it announced the 240 million euros purchase of Indexchange, a German provider of exchange traded funds.

Industrial materials group Cookson says its full-year results would be slightly ahead of its previous expectations following an encouraging performance in the third quarter. Cookson advanced 5.27%.

Decliners

Interim numbers of Yell Group were poorly received, sending shares in the directories group down 5%.

Associated British Foods was 2.5% weaker after it revealed a 4% decline in full-year profits. The company, which also owns the Primark chain of discount clothing stores, said restructuring costs at its British Sugar unit amounted to 97 million pounds.

Brewer Scottish & Newcastle fell 2.2% after it said consumer markets in western Europe were variable and warned of increasing costs. It also said the upcoming smoking ban in England and Wales would have an adverse effect on its market.

EasyJet, the budget airline, fell 1.3% after it revealed its aircraft were less full in October. The market reacted negatively to this morning recommended all share offer from Celtic Resources for Eureka Mining, as Eureka fell 11.71%.

[R]7:30AM Asian markets finish in positive territory on Tuesday, HK, Sydney lead.[/R]
Asian markets closed higher on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 Index ended 0.2% higher at 16,393.41. entertainment and electronics conglomerate Sony rose 0.9%.Toyota Motor announced its group net profit soared 34%, powered by robust sales in North America and Europe and a weaker yen. Its shares rose 1%. Shares of Honda rose 1.7%.

Hang Seng Index of Hong Kong rose 0.7% to 19,068.61, breaking the 19000-point barrier for the first time. Trading large-cap property shares were higher, with Sun Hung Kai Properties up 2.8%, while Henderson Land Development jumped 3%. China Mobile, the second-biggest large-cap by market value, rose 0.7% to a record high. The China Enterprises Index rose 1.2% to 7,804.14, breaking its previous all-time high set more than nine years ago.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 set a fresh intraday record before going slightlydown to close 0.9% higher to 5,491.60. Shares of mining company BHP Billiton rose 2% while rival Rio Tinto advanced 3.4%. Woodside Petroleum added 0.5%, lifted by stronger crude-oil prices. Taiwan Weighted Price Index gained 0.9%, rebounding from a 0.6% decline.

Elsewhere, Indonesia JSX Composite hit a record peak before retreating slightly to trade 1.2% higher at 1661.15. South Korea Kospi index advanced 0.6%, while Singapore Straits Times Index added 1.2%.

[R]6:30AM European markets advance in early trading Tuesday on oil and banks.[/R]
European markets were mostly higher on Tuesday. By mid morning, London FTSE 100 was flat at 6,224.5, Frankfurt Xetra Dax added 0.1% to 6,334.85, and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.3% to 5,417.81.

Advancers

Strong results from Deutsche Postbank, the biggest retail bank in Germany. The company said its third-quarter net profit rose 16.7%, as interest income climbed nearly 14 %. The shares gained 2.2%.

Repsol of Spain gained 1.7%. JPMorgan raised its target price on the stock, but kept its underweight rating. Neste Oil, the Finnish refiner, gained 1.1%, while BP in Britain gained 0.8%.

Telecom Italia gained 1.2% after reporting a surprise 3.5% rise in net income and added it considering the sale of its Brazilian mobile division and had already received two offers

Marks & Spencer led the advance on the FTSE 100 after reporting a forecast-beating 32% jump in first-half pre-tax profit. Its shares gained 4.7%.

Decliners

Vivendi fell 3% after reporting a smaller-than-forecast rise in third-quarter sales and receiving a broker downgrade from Merrill Lynch.

Shares in Yell Group dropped 2.5% in London after reporting a 44% first-half profit decline on the costs of buying TransWestern and TPI.

Oil and gold

Oil eased but stayed in sight of $60 on Tuesday after leading OPEC producer Saudi Arabia held out the prospect of deeper output cuts to remove excess supply. U.S. crude oil was off 11 cents at $59.91 a barrel. London Brent was down 11 cents at $59.64.

Gold rose, resuming a four-week rally as a drop in the dollar spurred demand for an alternative asset. Gold for immediate delivery rose $1.30, or 0.2%, to $624.70 an ounce in early session in London.

Currencies

The U.S. dollar was at $1.2756 per euro from $1.2724 yesterday. The Japanese yen climbed to 117.84 per dollar in early trading in London from 118.31 in New York yesterday. Against the euro, the British pound was at 67.00 pence in London from 67.07 on Nov. 3. The U.K. currency was also at $1.9039 from $1.8971.

[R]5:00AM Gold futures declined Monday due to profit-taking, silver advances.[/R]
December gold declined $1.30 to end at $627.90 a troy ounce on the NYME. December silver gained 12.5 cents to to settle at $12.76 an ounce. January platinum fell $12.70 to $1,196.70 an ounce while December palladium gained 60 cents to $335.70 an ounce. Most-active December copper rose 1.45 cents to close at $3.3370 per pound.

The front-month December crude oil contract settled 88 cents higher at $60.02 a barrel. December heating oil led a rise in products, settling up 4.09 cents to $1.7184 a gallon. December unleaded gasoline added 2.21 cents to end at $1.5290 a gallon. December natural gas slipped 39.4 cents to finish at $7.490 per million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures moved 0.75 cent higher at $1.1320 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March settled 0.44 cent higher at 11.75 cents a pound