Listless Trading in London, Berkeley Group Up

Mayank Mehta
04 Dec, 2009
New York City

The UK stocks increased slightly after trading listless in the session. The Berkeley Group Holdings first-half profits slides but the stock gains. The software developer Innovation Group plunged 11% after it reported a wider annual loss.

[R]4:00 PM London, 11:00 AM New York – The UK stocks increased slightly after trading listless in the session. The Berkeley Group Holdings first-half profits slides but the stock gains. The software developer Innovation Group plunged 11% after it reported a wider annual loss.[/R]

UK stocks regained the earlier losses after the U.S. reported better than expected jobs data. The home builders gained after reporting earnings.

Berkeley Group gained 2% after it reported first half profit declined 35% and Abbey Plc surged 9.1% to €4.80 after it swung to a profit in the first half.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 43.97 or 0.8% to 5,356.97 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.660 and to €1.111.

Gainers & Losers

AMEC plc decreased 2.3% to 805.50 pence and the contractor released its Vision 2015 plan.

AstraZeneca PLC the pharmaceutical company rose 0.8% to 2,797.00 pence.

The Berkeley Group Holdings plc decreased 3.8% to 858.00 pence after the home builder said first-half revenues fell 36% to £290.1 million from £452.6 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 35% to £37 million or 26.7 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £57 million or 46.3 pence per share a year ago.

Bellway plc the homebuilder declined 0.7% to 758.50 pence.

easyJet plc the budget airline rose 0.7% to 383.10 pence.

Ferrexpo plc the Ukraine-focused Iron ore producer advanced 1.9% to 206.80 pence.

Innovation Group PLC plunged 10.6% to 10.50 pence after the provider of software and outsourcing services said full-year revenues rose 11.4% to £155.9 million from £139.9 million a year ago. Net loss for the full-year was £22.3 million or 3.19 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £6.8 million or 1.06 pence per share a year ago.

Intelligent Environments Group plc the financial services software provider plunged 11.6% to 9.50 pence.

James Halstead plc the commercial flooring group gained 5.7% to 550 pence.

Lloyds Banking Group plc fell 3.8% to 53.34 pence.

SThree Plc increased 5.8% to 262.00 pence after the recruiter confirmed that annual earnings are in-line with market expectations.

Sound Oil plc plunged 46.2% to 1.98 pence which explores for oil and gas in Indonesia announced on October 20 that it was in discussions about the possible acquisition of a company with oil assets offshore West Africa.

Taylor Wimpey plc the homebuilding company fell 3.6% to 36.03 pence.
FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 52 increased, 48 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Randgold Resources Ltd. decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 4.27% followed by losses in Standard Chartered Plc of 3.63%, in Xstrata Plc of 3.44%, in Lonmin Plc of 2.58%, and in Hammerson Plc of 2.44%.

British Airways Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 2.81% followed by increase in AstraZeneca Plc of 2.56%, in The Sage Group Plc of 2.44%, in GlaxoSmithKline Plc of 2.22%, in SABMiller Plc of 2.06%.