UK Pound Rebounds; National Express Bid

123jump.com Staff
19 Oct, 2009
New York City

UK stocks surged on the rise in commodities prices. Home prices in the month rose across the nation. The pound regained its momentum after a revised economic forecast. National Express received another offer.

[R]8:00 PM London, 3:00 PM New York – UK stocks surged on the rise in commodities prices. Home prices in the month rose across the nation. The pound regained its momentum after a revised economic forecast. National Express received another offer.[/R]

Energy and mining companies led the gainer in UK trading. Resource stocks advanced after crude oil traded over $79 a barrel in New York and copper, gold and silver closed higher in London.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 91.30 or 1.76% to 5,281.54, in Paris CAC 40 Index increased 64.76 or 1.69% to close at 3,892.36, in Frankfurt DAX index higher 109.17 or 1.90% to close at 5,852.56. In Zurich trading SMI increased 91.11 or 1.44% to close at 6,436.37.

The pound closed up 0.3% after declining as much as 0.6% to $1.6402 and was nearly unchanged against the euro at 91.128 pence. The pound reversed its course after Item Club affiliated with Ernst & Young revised its 2010 economic growth forecast to 1% from 0.5%.

Right Move Plc also suggested that home owners in London and UK raised prices in October, record for the year.

Gainers & Losers

Aviva Plc decreased 1.5% to 443.50 pence after it announced the details of the spin-off of its Dutch financial service unit Delta Lloyd. The company plans to sell 42% of its subsidiary to raise €1.2 billion.

Media Corporation surged 29% to 3 pence after the company stated that the Internet search leader Google has reinstated its ranking on the company Web sites gambling.com and creditcardexpert.com in October 2007. Following the penalty gross margin at the Gambiling.com site was lowered 62% to £410,000 and gross margin at Creditcardexpert.co.uk dropped 56% to £73,000.

National Express surged 10.5% to 400 pence after it received a preliminary bid from Stagecoach Group. The all-share bid comes after the bid from the Cosmen family and CVC Capital that offered 500 pence a share for the company. Stagecoach increased 1 penny to 157 pence.

Pearson, the publishing group increased 1.2% to 822 pence after it acquired training group A+RISE.

Petropavlovsk, the renamed Peter Hambro Mining increased 0.5% to 1,140 pence after it reported gold production for the three months to September declined by 700 ounces to 123,600. The miner reiterated full year estimate of 500,000 ounces.

St Ives increased 3.8% to 74 pence after it reported annual loss of £7.2 million compared to net profit of £30.6 million a year ago.

William Hill increased 10.2% to 177.60 pence after bookmaker fiscal third quarter revenues declined 3%, significantly lower than market expectations.

Yule Catto Plc advanced 20% to 176 pence after the drug maker estimated first three quarters of profits that are ahead of market expectations.

DAX Index Movers

Salzgitter AG led the decliners in the DAX index of 2.01% followed by losses in Fresenius SE of 1.22%, in Henkel AG of 1.00%, in Deutsche Lufthansa AG of 0.85%, in Allianz SE of 0.47%.

Daimler AG led gainers in the DAX index with a rise of 6.40% followed by increase in Deutsche Boerse AG of 5.85%, in Bmw AG of 3.77%, in K+S AG of 3.57%, in Volkswagen AG of 3.30%.

CAC-40 Index Movers

Essilor International led the decliners in the CAC-40 index of 0.41% followed by losses in Cap Gemini SA of 0.35% in Eads NV of 0.14%.

Technip gainers in the CAC-40 index with a rise of 5.22% followed by gainers in Societe Generale SA of 3.50%, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA of 3.38%, in Dexia SA. of 3.22%, in PSA Peugeot Citroen S.A. of 3.15%.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 89 increased, 13 declined and 0 were unchanged.

Aviva Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 1.51% followed by losses in Lloyds Banking Group Plc of 1.18%, in Cairn Energy Plc of 0.63%, in 3i Group Plc of 0.46%, in Serco Group Plc of 0.28%.

Schroders Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 5.94% followed by increase in Schroders Plc of 4.96%, in Anglo American Plc of 4.73%, in The British Land Company Plc of 4.04%, in Xstrata Plc of 3.95%.