UK Banks Down; BP Rises, Reckitt Benckiser Falls

Mayank Mehta
27 Oct, 2009
New York City

UK stocks in volatile trading edged higher. Commodities prices increased. Banks declined as investors feared tighter EU bailout conditions. BP Plc gained nearly 5% after it reported higher than expected earnings on tighter cost control. Reckitt Benckiser third quarter net increased 25%.

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK stocks in volatile trading edged higher. Commodities prices increased. Banks declined as investors feared tighter EU bailout conditions. BP Plc gained nearly 5% after it reported higher than expected earnings on tighter cost control. Reckitt Benckiser third quarter net increased 25%.[/R]

The benchmark index in the UK traded volatile but closed higher as commodities retained their gains. Banks closed lower after EU set tighter conditions for the troubled Dutch bank ING. Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland fell.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 33.93 or 0.6% to 5,225.67 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.638 and at 1.101 euros.

Gainers & Losers

ARM Holdings plc rose 0.2% to 149.50 pence after the computer chip designer reiterated full year revenues outlook.

Barratt Developments PLC the heavily indebted home builder fell 1.4% to 142.60 pence.

BP plc added 4.0% to 590.20 pence after the oil giant said third quarter net profit declined to $5.34 billion or 28.18 cents a share earnings share compared to net profit of $8.05 billion or 42.56 cents a share a year ago. Revenues in the quarter declined 35% to $67.86 billion.

B.P. March and Partners Plc the consultancy services provider surged 12.0% to 88.52 pence.

Braemar Shipping Services plc the shipping and marine services firm close unchanged at 390 pence.

Cineworld Group plc decreased 0.8% to 151.75 pence after the cinema operator said the group is pleased to report healthy trading with total revenues up 6.5% in the 43 weeks to October 22. For the year sales are up 10.9% from a year ago.

Computacenter PLC the IT Infrastructure services provider rose 0.7% to 298.20 pence.

Fiberweb Plc fell 0.8% to 62.00 pence after the fabrics producer has continued to trade in line with expectations. Sales trends have continued to improve with third quarter volumes flat versus prior year on a like-for-like basis and for the year-to-date like-for-like volume decline to 11% from the 17% in the first half-year.

GETECH Group Plc the oil data analysis specialist increased 2.4% to 21.00 pence.

GlaxoSmithKline Plc increased 2.2% to 1,256 pence after the company received an approval to sell its leukemia drug sales in the U.S.

Griffin Mining Limited rose 4.7% to 38.50 pence after the Chinese mine operator said the Caijiaying zinc-gold mine has returned to profitability in the quarter ended September 2009 having processed 114,233 tons of ore to produce 6,783 tons of zinc, 1,351 ounces of gold, 38,019 ounces of silver and 218 tons of lead.

Mondi plc fell 0.5% to 336.50 pence after the paper and packaging firm said third quarter net is slightly lower than in the second quarter.

Mears Group PLC the housing repair firm rose 2.0% to 278.25 pence.

Reckitt Benckiser Plc dropped 2.1% after it reported third quarter net income increased 25% to 357 million pounds or 49.6 pence a share compared to 285 million pounds or 39.5 pence a share. The consumer goods products lifted its constant currency annual income outlook to a gain between 12% and 13% from the previous range of between 10% and 11%. Revenues in the quarter increased 14% to 1.9 billion pounds.

Tottenham Hotspur plc the North London football club fell 3.7% to 78.00 pence.

Vislink plc closed unchanged at 25.50 pence after the secure communications specialist reiterated that the current year is a “transition year” for the company as it focuses on implementing strategies for new business units.

Yell Group plc the yellow pages business plunged 12.8% to 45.31 pence.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 48 increased, 53 declined and 1 were unchanged.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc led decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 6.60% followed by losses in Vedanta Resources Plc of 4.41%, in Lloyds Banking Group Plc of 4.21%, in Barclays Plc of 3.86%, in Man Group Plc of 3.70%.

BP Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 5.17% followed by increase in Reed Elsevier Plc of 3.67%, in Home Retail Group Plc of 3.11%, in GlaxoSmithKline Plc of 2.97%, in Tesco Plc of 2.27%.