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| | London Market Report |  | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  |  |  |  | | Please click on the images to view our interactive charts | | | London close: FTSE ends above 6,700 after strong US tech performance - FTSE ends 28.26 points higher at 6,703
- Easter retail sales rise
- Ukraine kills militants, EU ponders Crimea sanctions
techMARK 2,759.85 +0.65%
FTSE 100 6,703.00 +0.42%
FTSE 250 15,991.77 +0.01%
The FTSE 100 closed above the key psychological barrier of 6,700, lifted by better-than-expected results from big US tech stocks Apple and Facebook which boosted sentiment on this side of the Pond.
The top tier index ended the day up 28.26 points at 6,703.
Brenda Kelly, Chief Market Strategist at IG, said: "The FTSE 100 spent most of the day sitting comfortably above 6700. This put it at its highest level since the first half of March, supported by positive feedback from Facebook and Apple results in the US overnight. AstraZeneca results were just the pill needed to keep the positive atmosphere going, and the stock has held on to its gains in the afternoon session.
"Building firm Travis Perkins is looking a little more lopsided as the day goes on, however, shedding all of its initial pop and now back to last week's lows around £17.60. Having seen the shares double since 2012, investors can be forgiven for profit-taking, and it now seems that £20 is the roof on the price action for now."
In UK macro news, it was revealed that Easter put a spring in the step of April retail sales, according to business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
Retailers did well during the month and boosted sales strongly versus the same time last year, the CBI's monthly distributive trades survey of 131 companies showed.
Some 42% of respondents reported higher sales volumes than a year ago, while 12% said they were down, giving a balance of 30% against 13% in March, which the CBI described as a significant improvement.
Ukraine kills militants, EU ponders Crimea sanctions
Dragging the FTSE down from its intra-day high of around 6,724 was the latest from Eastern Europe, where Ukrainian troops moving to take back Slavyansk in the east of the country were reported to have killed between five and seven militants, although later in the day 'paused' their assault amid reports of Russian manoeuvres on the other side of the border.
Ukraine "paused to reformulate the plan", a senior security official in Kiev as having said, according to reports from Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya, amid a "heightened risk" of Russia sending troops into Ukraine.
Meanwhile, other wire reports cited documents that suggest the EU may ban transactions with financial institutions in Russian Crimea.
This comes on the same day that Russian President Vladimir Putin said current sanctions against Russia and its citizens were "causing damage", by affecting credit ratings and making loans more expensive, but this was "of no critical character".
AstraZeneca climbs after revenue beats expectations
AstraZeneca rose on the back of better-than-expected revenue growth of three per cent in the first quarter, driven by the pharmaceutical company's diabetes franchise. Shares were up despite earnings falling by more than expected. AstraZeneca's share price surged earlier this week on speculation it could be susceptible to a takeover bid from Pfizer.
Smith & Nephew was driven higher by news out from the States that Zimmer Holdings, the US maker of artificial joints, has agreed to purchase rival orthopedic-device maker Biomet in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $13.4bn. Biomet's parent, Biomet Group, had been planning an initial public offering.
Meanwhile, building materials supplier Travis Perkins fell sharply despite a strong first-quarter report, as investors took the opportunity to take profits.
Associated British Foods retreated from yesterday's strong gains which came after the company announced its intention to expand its fast-growing Primark brand into the US towards the end of next year.
Consumer goods giant Unilever signalled an upturn in Europe in its first quarter, but said growth was slowing in emerging markets as it reported a 6.3% fall in turnover to €11.4bn due to currency headwinds, causing shares to drop.
Hammerson fell after HSBC downgraded the real estate investment trust from 'overweight' to 'neutral'. |
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FTSE 100 - Risers
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 909.00p +3.35%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,175.00p +3.28%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,992.00p +2.21%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,438.00p +2.13%
Shire Plc (SHP) 3,248.00p +1.85%
SABMiller (SAB) 3,110.00p +1.83%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,454.00p +1.75%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 413.30p +1.47%
BG Group (BG.) 1,150.00p +1.41%
Aggreko (AGK) 1,559.00p +1.30%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,763.00p -3.77%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 2,865.00p -3.27%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 848.50p -3.25%
Unilever (ULVR) 2,590.00p -1.67%
Hammerson (HMSO) 573.50p -1.21%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 205.10p -0.97%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 789.50p -0.94%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,659.00p -0.87%
Fresnillo (FRES) 846.00p -0.82%
British Land Co (BLND) 682.00p -0.80%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 62.50p +11.71%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 197.40p +7.40%
Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 167.10p +6.98%
Just Retirement Group (JRG) 162.50p +5.25%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 392.70p +4.64%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 305.40p +4.05%
Amec (AMEC) 1,244.00p +2.90%
Heritage Oil (HOIL) 264.40p +2.76%
Premier Oil (PMO) 313.50p +2.75%
Laird (LRD) 295.20p +2.68%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 349.10p -4.33%
Bellway (BWY) 1,476.00p -3.84%
Spirent Communications (SPT) 100.50p -3.37%
Xaar (XAR) 865.00p -3.24%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 105.80p -3.02%
Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 334.60p -2.90%
Redrow (RDW) 278.80p -2.86%
Supergroup (SGP) 1,464.00p -2.85%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 806.00p -2.83%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 343.20p -2.58%
FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Gresham Computing (GHT) 136.00p +7.94%
Torotrak (TRK) 22.38p +5.29%
NCC Group (NCC) 191.25p +2.27%
Skyepharma (SKP) 235.00p +2.17%
Anite (AIE) 82.00p +1.86%
Dialight (DIA) 950.00p +0.85%
Ricardo (RCDO) 675.00p +0.07%
FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Puricore (PURI) 41.00p -9.89%
Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 133.00p -2.92%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,608.00p -1.95%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 166.75p -1.77%
Sepura (SEPU) 132.25p -1.67%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 17.75p -1.39%
Optos (OPTS) 171.75p -1.29%
Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 115.75p -1.28%
Kofax Limited (DI) (KFX) 462.25p -0.80%
SDL (SDL) 319.75p -0.39% |
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| | Europe Market Report | | | | FTSE 100 | Euronext | Dax perf | CAC 40 |  | | | | | | Europe close: Stocks recover, Draghi sounds dovish note - Draghi sounds dovish note
- Clashes in Ukraine, Russia starts military drills
- No consensus now at ECB on need for May policy action - MNI
- Oil stocks lead gains, as Libyan exports affected
FTSE-100: 0.70%
Dax-30: 0.91%
Cac-40: 1.05%
FTSE Mibtel 30: 1.03%
Ibex 35: 0.75%
Stoxx 600: 0.73%
European stocks managed to end the day in the blue after a late afternoon swoon in reaction to an Interfax report that Russia was to start military drills on its western border.
That came after Ukrainian security forces had managed to dislodge pro-Russian militants from the mayor's office in Mariupol, a town very near to the border with Russia.
As well, overnight Ukrainian troops reportedly fought back an attack by 70 armed persons against an army base in Artemivsk, to the north of Donetsk.
In response to the above, Ukraine "paused to reformulate the plan", a senior security official in Kiev as having said, according to reports from Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya, amid a "heightened risk" of Russia sending troops into Ukraine.
Before the news about the above drills broke, equities had been notching up sharp gains after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi sounded a rather dovish note in a speech delivered in the Netherlands.
More specifically, he ran over all of the options which are available to the central bank should it need to compensate for an unwanted tightening in its monetary stance.
Also helping investor sentiment along was a better-than-expected reading on German business confidence earlier in the day, courtesy of the IFO institute, alongside solid quarterly earnings figures out from US technology giant Apple.
The IFO business climate gauge rose to 111.2 in April from 110.4 in the month before (consensus: 110.4), led by a jump in the expectations sub-index to 107.3 from 106.4 in March.
Also lending a helping hand were the reports that American outfit GE may be looking to purchase French rival Alstom for about $13bn.
That may be interpreted by investors as confirmation that 'animal spirits' in the corporate world – even if only on the other side of the pond – have indeed improved.
Shares of Alstom rocket
From a sector standpoint, the best performance was being logged by companies in the following industrial groups: Oil&Gas (1.22%), Financial services (0.67%) and Telecommunications (0.54%).
Shares of French engineering group Alstom were 15% higher following the reported interest from US firm GE. Bouygues, one of its major shareholders, is said to back the bid.
Coincidentally, the US Committee on Foreign Investment in the US has cleared Dassault Systems acquisition of US scientific software firm Accelrys. The French outfit also confirmed its 2014 forecasts.
Spanish lender Caixabank reported a 54.6% drop in first quarter net profits to €152m.
Crude futures higher
The euro/dollar was up by 0.11% at 1.3831.
Front-month Brent crude futures were moving up by 0.845% to the $110.03/barrel mark on the ICE. |
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| | US Market Report | | US open: Stocks fall as Russia says will start drills - Ukraine tensions rise as Putin warns of 'consequences'
- Russia to begin military drills -Interfax
- Apple gains strongly after earnings, increase buyback
- Facebook beats forecasts but shares fall
- US economic data comes in mixed
Dow Jones: -0.30%
Nasdaq: -0.44%
S&P 500: -0.29%
Early gains on US stock markets were quickly erased on Thursday on the back of rising tensions in Ukraine despite impressive results from a number of heavyweights, including Apple and Facebook.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both fell 0.3% in early trade, while the Nasdaq was down 0.4%.
Better-than-expected results from the likes of Caterpillar and General Motors also failed to give the wider market a lift today, after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of "consequences" from more violence between Ukrainian soldiers and pro-Moscow activists.
Ukrainian troops moving to take back Slavyansk in the east of the country reportedly killed five militants, according to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.
Just after the open on Wall Street Interfax reported that the Russian Federation has begun military drills in response to the situation in southeast Ukraine.
Markets were also reacting to economic data today which showed that jobless claims rose 24,000 to 329,000 last week. This compared with an upwardly revised 305,000 the week before and disappointed analysts who were looking for a figure of 315,000.
Meanwhile, US durable goods orders increased by 2.6% in March, up from 2.1% growth the previous month and ahead of the 2% rise expected.
Apple, Facebook
Higher-than-expected sales of iPhones helped Apple to deliver earnings per share (EPS) of $11.62 for its fiscal second quarter. This was up from $10.09 the year before and well above the consensus forecast for $10.18.
The stock was as much as 7% higher after Apple also added a further $30bn to its share buyback programme and announced a seven-for-one stock split which could see the company join the Dow, given that its high price was an obstacle to its inclusion in the index.
Social media titan Facebook impressed after it smashed profit forecasts for its first quarter, as a surge in mobile advertising led to a jump in revenues. However, the stock was swinging between gains and losses early on.
Caterpillar also managed to soundly beat analysts' forecasts, delighting shareholders with a first-quarter EPS figure of $1.61, in comparison to the $1.23 anticipated by analysts.
Zimmer Holdings, a maker of artificial joints, rose strongly after agreeing to buy rival Biomet in a cash-and-stock deal valued at $13.4bn. Biomet's parent, Biomet Group, had been planning an initial public offering, Zimmer said.
West Texas Intermediate futures were up 0.45% at $101.90 a barrel on the NYMEX.
The yield on a 10-year US Treasury was down one basis point at 2.69%. |
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| | Broker Tips | | Broker tips: AstraZeneca, Barclays, BSkyB, Hammerson Panmure Gordon has kept a 'hold' recommendation for AstraZeneca after a mixed first quarter from the pharmaceutical group, but said there were some 'bright lights' in the results such as its heartburn treatment Nexium.
Analyst Savvas Neophytou said that Astra's portfolio performed well overall, "with Nexium US in particular providing +11% beat which perhaps points to possible delay in genericisation that had been expected on May 27th 2014".
Shore Capital has retained its 'buy' stance on Barclays but has highlighted readacross from reports that German banking peer Deutsche Bank is under pressure from investors to raise more capital.
Nevertheless, ahead of Barclays' first-quarter update and strategy presentation at the start of May, the broker said that the stock's price-to-tangible net asset value ratio of 0.8 is "still somewhat depressed".
Berenberg has reiterated its 'sell' recommendation for pay-TV and broadband group British Sky Broadcasting, saying that the company's upcoming third-quarter statement will probably show signs of market share loss.
The broker said that, in line with recent management comments, the update on May 2nd is likely to reflect a "slow" quarter in terms of new customers, "reflecting a weak market overall, coupled with further declines in the company's share of net telecommunications additions".
Despite reporting an decent first-quarter statement, retail-focused property group Hammerson received a ratings downgrade by HSBC on Thursday from 'overweight' to 'neutral' on the back of the stock's recent strong run.
"As a result [of its 16% year-to-date rise] HMSO has moved into a 'neutral' bandwidth based on our valuation framework and so we downgrade to 'neutral' (from 'overweight') albeit with a raised target of 630p (from 600p) reflecting our updated estimates." | | |
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