London Rallies on M&A Talks

Ivaylo
02 Jan, 2007
New York City

The FTSE 100 reached its highest level in five year and a half as investors returned for the first session of the New Year on Tuesday, expecting further merger and acquisition activity in the wake of the record levels in last year. British Airways staged a strong performance, aided by takeover talk. Gains in the index were also boosted by the strong finish in Asia and strong performance in utilities and mining stocks. The main index, the FSTE 100, climbed 65 points, 1.1%.

[R]9:30AM TheLondon market surged on Tuesday on takeover speculation.[/R]
The main index in London, the FSTE 100, climbed 65 points, 1.1%, to 6,286.5 to its highest level since February 2001 in mid-morning trade.

Advancers

British Airways led FTSE 100 advancers helped by takeover rumors. The airline surged 2.6%. Utilities were also boosted by bid news after French billionaire Francois Pinault refused to rule out a possible takeover offer for Suez of France. Scottish & Southern Energy advanced 2.2% and Severn Trent was up 1.8%.

Miners were lifted by a strong session in Asia overnight as investors started the year buying resource stocks. Vedanta Resources and BHP Billiton both advanced 1.4%. Oil stocks made gains with Royal Dutch Shell up 1.3% and BG Group 1.1% higher.

British Land traded 1.1% up after it was one of several property companies to convert into real estate investment trusts. Land Securities gained 0.9% and Brixton was also higher by 1%.

Decliners

Beverage company Blavod Extreme was the only notable decliner, announcing it has seen growth in the last six months, though some of that has been at the cost of lower margins. The company slumped 15.38%.

[R]7:30 AM Asian markets advanced on Tuesday with HK advancing on tech stocks.[/R]
Asian markets finished higher on Tuesday, the first day of trading of the New Year. Japanese market was closed. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ended 1.7% higher at 20,310. China Mobile led the Hang Seng Index to a record high on the first trading day of the year, gaining 3.7% on a report it might seek a listing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

ICBC, the most active stock on Tuesday, surged 5.8%. China Construction Bank closed 2.8% higher, while Bank of China added 4.9%. Insurers also rallied with China Life, the largest insurance company in China by revenue, advancing 6.6%. Ping An Insurance gained 6.7% and PICC soared 12%.

In South Korea, Kospi Index advanced 0.1% to 1,435. Samsung Electronics added 2%, Hynix Semiconductor rose 2.3%, LG.Philips LCD advanced 5% and Samsung SDI surged 8.1%. Banks ended lower, though. Kookmin Bank shares shed 1.1% and Woori Finance Holdings declined 2.3%.

Australia S&P/ASX 200 gained marginally 0.01% to close at 5,670 with banks at the forefront of gains. National Australia Bank advanced 0.6%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 0.4% and Macquarie Bank rose 0.9%.

[R]6:30 AM European markets were higher on Tuesday on utilities, industrial groups.[/R]
European markets were higher on Friday. By mid morning, FTSE 100 in London climbed 1% to 6,281.5, Frankfurt Xetra Dax gained 1% to 6,659.90 and the CAC 40 in Paris added 1.3% to 5,610.76.

Advancers

French billionaire Francois Pinault announced he would not rule out a takeover offer on Suez, whose 80 billion euro merger with Gaz de France was uncertain. Suez shares gained 1.5%, while Gaz de France added 1 %.

Mr Pinault was anticipated to break up Suez if he succeeded with a bid and sell the energy business to GDF, while the waste management and water assets were expected to be acquired by Veolia Environment. Norway Renewable Energy was boosted 3.5%.

Spain Gas Natural rose 2.6% and Iberdrola added 1.8% after the Spanish government approved higher tariffs last week.

Acciona, which bought a stake in power generator Endesa, gained 2.4%, while ACS which acquired holdings in both Union Fenosa and Iberdrola, added 1.5%.

France BNP Paribas boosted the banking sector as it gained 2.5%. It was the most active advisor to French companies on mergers and acquisitions in 2006. BBVA gained 2.4%, Banco de Sabadell added 2.5% and Banco Popular climbed 2.6%.

Decliners

There was only one notable decliner in early European trade. Shares in Veolia were down 3.6%.

Oil and gold

Oil rebounded to $61.34 a barrel in New York and Brent crude also advanced. Crude oil for February delivery advanced 29 cents, or 0.5%, to $61.34 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract traded at $61.24 in early trade London. Brent crude for February settlement rose 39 cents, or 0.6%, to $61.25 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange

Gold climbed to a three-week high in London on rumors investors will buy the metal as an alternative to the dollar. Gold for immediate delivery rose $4, or 0.6%, to $640.80 an ounce in early trade in London.

Currencies

The euro welcomed new member Slovenia by advancing against the dollar in early European trading on Tuesday. The 13-nation European currency bought $1.3277, up from $1.3163 in late Friday trading in New York. The dollar also dipped against the British pound, which bought $1.9715, up from $1.9613 on Friday. Against the Japanese yen, the dollar slipped to 118.72 yen from 118.90 yen on Friday.

[R]5:00 AM Gold closed higher in thin trading Friday, copper futures declined.[/R]
The most-active February gold gained $1.10 to close at $638 a troy ounce while March silver ended 0.5 cent lower at $12.935 an ounce. January platinum finished $23.10 higher at $1,139.30 an ounce, after a late flurry of buying. March palladium advanced $10.55 to end at $338.50 an ounce. The most-active March copper contract fell 2.4 cents to settle at $2.8710 a pound on the Nymex.

In Nymex energy trading, the front-month February crude oil contract ended 52 cents, or 0.9%, higher at $61.05 a barrel. It was crude oil fifth straight annual gain. January heating oil shed 2.52 cents, or 1.55%, to close at $1.5979 a gallon. January unleaded gasoline dropped 4.02 cents, or 2.54%, to settle at $1.5419 a gallon. February natural gas futures closed 5.1 cents higher at $6.299 a million British thermal units.

March Arabica coffee closed 1.2 cents higher at $1.2620 a pound, and May coffee finished 1.25 cents higher at $1.2920 a pound. March raw sugar futures finished 0.11 cents lower at 11.75 cents a pound, while May sugar closed 0.07 cents lower at 11.71 cents a pound.