FTSE 100 Edges Higher

Ivaylo
14 Nov, 2006
New York City

Home Retail and Experian are both doing well on vague takeover talk, while Vodafone remains in the blue after interim underlying profits beat expectations. Miners also enjoyed strong performances after sharp declines in previous sessions. Engineering design group Aveva rose again as it issued another earnings upgrade. Acambis is the worst peformers. At 2:30 GMT, the FTSE 100 is 1.90 points, or 0.03% higher.

[R]9:30AM The FTSE 100 gains slightly in afternoon trading on miners, M&A.[/R]
At 2:30 GMT, the FTSE 100 in London is 1.90 points, or 0.03% higher, at 6,196.10.

Advancers

Home Retail and Experian, the old GUS, are both doing. Home Retail Group is 0.98% while Experian spurted 3.09%.

Vodafone was among the stocks, leading the gainers, up 0.55% %, as the largest mobile phone operator in the world reported a rise in interim revenues to 15.6 billion pounds and confirmed its guidance.

InterContinental Hotels was 1.3% higher after the hotels group posted a 10% increase in third-quarter revenue.

Resolution, the closed life fund consolidator, advanced 1.6% on hopes it could find a merger partner.

Engineering design group Aveva rose 11.20% as it issued another earnings upgrade. First half profits rose by 191% and the second will beat market forecasts Aveva announced.

Miners also enjoyed a strong showing after sharp falls in the previous session. Xstrata rose 1.4%, Rio Tinto gained 0.8% and Kazakhmys was 0.8% stronger.

Decliners

Acambis is one the worst peformers, down 38.19%, as the vaccine maker warned that the US has dropped it from its smallpox vaccine tender process.

BskyB took a hit, declining 1.36%, as Deutsche Bank announced that the satellite broadcaster guided down forecasts for next year.

Energy group and bid target Scottish Power started the day brightly but has slipped down 0.61% despite first half profits also topped the forecasts of analysts.

[R]7:30AM Asian stocks advance led by upbeat Japanese stocks.[/R]
Asian markets finished higher on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 Index rose 1.7% to finish at 16289.55. Leading advancers were machinery stock Okuma jumping 11%. TDK adding 2.1%. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increasing 4.2% and Mitsui Fudosan posting a 2.3% rise. However, shares in Aozora, a once-ailing Japanese bank turned around by U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Partners and other investors, closed down 12% from its premarket IPO price.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ended 0.1% higher at 18,878.42. Stocks closed only slightly higher as gains in China-related blue chips offset weakness in HSBC Holdings shares. Shares of HSBC declined 1.5% after the company posted a worrying fall in earnings at its U.S. units. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China gained 2.1%, while China Mobile increased 1.6%.

In Seoul, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, rose 0.8% to 1,407.37. Samsung Securities gained 2.1% and Woori Investment & Securities rose 4%. Samsung Electronics gained 1.3% and Hynix Semiconductor rose 0.9%. Korean Air also jumped 4.2% despite announcing disappointing third-quarter results. Analysts believe prospects of Korean Air are likely to improve in the fourth quarter as oil prices began to fall from mid-August and are likely to remain stable for the rest of the year.

Other indices also gained. Australia S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%, while New Zealand NZX-50 Index ended 0.6% higher. Singapore Straits Times Index added 0.5% and Taiwan Weighted Price Index rose 1%.

[R]6:30AM European stocks advanced supported by telecom companies.[/R]
European markets were higher on Tuesday. By mid morning, the FTSE 100 in London added 0.3% 6,210.7, Frankfurt Xetra Dax gained 0.1% to 6,397.55, and the CAC 40 in Paris was marginally higher at 5,490.4.

Advancers

UK mobile group Vodafone kept its full-year guidance of 5 - 6.5% organic revenue growth after reporting a forecast-beating rise in first-half core earnings. Vodafone gained 2%.

Telefonica, the Spanish telecoms group, gained 0.7% after reporting a better-than-expected 43% rise in nine-month operating revenue.

Telekom Austria rose 2.1% after defying expectations of a profit decline. The company reported a 1% rise in third-quarter core profits thanks to growth in its international assets, including Bulgaria’s Mobiltel.

Other telecoms groups were feeling the wave of optimism in the sector, with TeliaSonera, the Nordic region’s biggest operator, up 1.4%. It received a number of broker upgrades after reporting its own set of strong results earlier in the month. Telenor, which also reported earlier this month, gained 1.5%. Telecom Italia added 1%.

Miners such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton also rose more than 1% after selling off sharply the previous day amid weaker metal prices.

Decliners

Sacyr Vallehermoso, which gained a massive 15 % in the previous session following record quarterly results, gave back 3.2% as profits were taken.

Italian bank Banca Lombarda e Piemontese slipped 3.6% after it said late on Monday that it will merge with Banche Popolari Unite in a deal that will create the sixth largest bank in Italy.

Oil and gold

Crude oil for December delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange was 0.5% higher in London. The December Brent crude contract traded on London ICE Futures Exchange at $59.45 a barrel, up 40 cents.

Gold for immediate delivery fell $1.80, or 0.3%, to $623.90 an ounce in London. Prices dropped 1.5% in the previous two sessions.

Currencies

The euro was up slightly against the U.S. dollar Tuesday ahead of a key forecast on German economic sentiment and lower-than-expected inflation. The euro bought $1.2829, up from $1.2810 late Monday in New York. Among other currencies, the British pound fell to $1.8987 from $1.9013 while the dollar was down slightly to purchase 117.85 Japanese yen from 118.12 yen.

[R]5:00AM Gold and silver futures declined on firm dollar and profit-taking.[/R]
December gold settled down $4.30 at $625.80 a troy ounce on the NYME. December silver ended 23 cents lower at $12.885 an ounce. January platinum dipped near a weekly low of $1,182 an ounce but later settled at $1,203.90, down $5.70 on the day. December palladium closed $3.95 lower on the day at $326.75 an ounce. At settlement, December copper shed 1.35 cents to finish at $3.075 per pound.

December crude oil settled down $1.01 to $58.58 a barrel. December heating oil lost 3.66 cents to close at $1.6600 a gallon and December gasoline slipped 2.57 cents to to settle at $1.5370 a gallon. December natural gas settled up 10.0 cents at $7.894 a million British thermal units.

On the New York Board of Trade, December Arabica coffee futures lost 0.70 cent at $1.1515 per pound, while the March futures fell 0.60 cent to $1.1945. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for March ended 0.18 cent lower at 11.67 cents a pound, while May finished down 0.13 cent at 11.81.