Markets: FTSE 100 boosted by Greek vote on Monday

By Interactive Investor News Team | Mon, 13/02/2012 - 18:05

17:05 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) held onto the majority of its gains on Monday as investors found solid ground after the decision on Greece.

London's blue chip index closed 53.31 points ahead at 5905.70 with relative newcomer Evraz (EVR) finishing on a high, as troubled Carnival (CCL) remained in the red.

On AIM, it was a good day for Sky High (SKHG), up 63%, while the gloom continued for Alexander David Securities (ADS), finishing 18% lower.

Interactive Investor users were very active on the site throughout Monday, buying shares in Xcite Energy (XEL) and selling Range Resources (RRL).

"And so the battle with the 5900 level continues into a new week," noted Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index.

"In each of the past five trading sessions, the FTSE 100 has poked its head above 5900, only to survey the landscape ahead of it and then drop back again. This is exactly the same pattern seen today; a brief surge around lunchtime buoyed hopes that we might finally see a determined push higher, but then investors' nerves failed and London's premier index retreated," he added.

Beauchamp said that the message to take from today's session is that, while risk assets remain near multi-month highs, there seems as yet little real appetite to push them much higher.

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,722.56

WTI crude oil: $100.11

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5778

GBP/EUR: 1.1943

EUR/USD: 1.3207

All changes from 09:00 GMT.

16:43 - US stocks moved higher on Monday, buoyed by the positive reaction to the Greek deal.

The Dow Jones was 49 points ahead at 12851, with almost all of its 30 components higher.

Strong financial stocks helped the S&P 500 add six points to 1348 while the Nasdaq moved 18 points into the black to 2922.

16:24 - Latest drill results have been released by Herencia Resources (HER) for its initial 11-hole diamond drilling programme at the Guamanga Copper-Gold Project in Chile.

Assays have been returned from four holes of the 11 holes drilled with GUADD002, GUADD003 and GUADD005 all intersecting copper-gold mineralisation.

16:10 - Xenetic Biosciences (XEN) said that in a phase I/IIa intravenous clinical trial, its co-development partner, the Serum Institute of India (SIIL), has dosed its first patient with their jointly-owned ErepoXen candidate.

The six-month trial is being conducted by India-based contract research organisation (CRO) SIRO Clinpharm. SIRO is a leading full-service CRO with operations in India, the Middle East, Europe and the USA.

15:56 - AIM-listed technology company Toumaz (TMZ) said it traded in line with the board's expectations for the year to 31 December 2011.

It also raised £11.2 million through a placing of 128,000,001 new ordinary shares of 0.25p with institutional investors, at a price of 8.75p per share.

The proceeds will mainly be used to invest further in Toumaz Microsystems, in which chip designer Imagination Technologies (IMG) has a stake.

15:42 - Wireless technology company Telit Communications (TCM) is considering undertaking an initial public offering in the United States.

"Such an offering will be dependent upon market conditions and would be expected to occur, if at all, in the second half of 2012," the company said on Monday.

15:28 - Mobile banking technology company Monitise (MONI) saw its first-half revenue surge threefold to £15.8 million.

The firm said it had a record order book of £83 million at the end of the first half, with a further £120 million of revenues with a high degree of visibility from existing contracts over the next five years, totalling £203 million.

The group now expects full-year revenue to total £34 million in the 12 months ending 30 June, up 21% on its previous guidance of £28 million.

15:14 - Solomon Gold (SOLG) confirmed that drilling at the Rannes gold-silver project in Queensland, Australia was continuing to target two million ounces of gold equivalent.

Additionally, follow-up drilling is being undertaken at Kauffmans to explore the up-dip and down-dip extensions of the high-grade zones.

"We are improving our understanding of the mineralised systems and are lowering project risk," stated chief executive Malcolm Norris.

However, he warned that the current wet season had commenced and that the drilling rate had slowed, but that this would be ramped up again in the second quarter of 2012.

15:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) was once again flirting with the 5900 level after being buoyed by banks and miners.

The blue-chip index climbed up 51 points to 5903. Both Kazakhmys (KAZ) and Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) rose more than 3%.

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,718.67

WTI crude oil: $100.32

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5795

GBP/EUR: 1.1939

EUR/USD: 1.3227

All changes from 09:00 GMT.

14:49 - News that Greece's vote had passed through the austerity measures pushed markets across the Pond higher, following in Europe's and Asia's footsteps.

The Dow Jones climbed 51 points to 12852. The Nasdaq rose 22 points to 2926, while the S&P 500 followed suit with an eight-point increase to 1351.

14:38 - FTSE 250 trading systems company Fidessa (FDSA) said trading volumes for its customers were more difficult than many were anticipating in 2011.

However, it delivered annual revenue growth of 6% to £278.3 million for the year ended 31 December, which produced a 7% rise in pre-tax profit to £42.5 million after growth across all regions and market sectors.

George O'Connor at Panmure Gordon downgraded revenue growth forecasts for the firm and increased target price from 1,501p to 1,515p, keeping his 'hold' recommendation.

Analysts at Peel Hunt echoed this stance but reduced target from 1,670p to 1,500p while finnCapp reiterated its 'sell' position.

14:21 - Shares in Highland Gold Mining (HGM) moved lower after Barrick Gold confirmed that it intended to divest its 20.4% shareholding in Highland.

"Highland is now non-core to Barrick's business operations and strategy," said the company. "Despite this determination, Barrick remains very supportive of Highland's board of directors and management as they continue to execute on Highland's impressive growth objectives," it added.

Barrick, Highland, and Highland's largest shareholder, Primerod International, have agreed that each party will work together to achieve an orderly divestiture for Barrick.

14:04 - Shares in Telecom Plus (TEP) rose mildly as it stated that full-year profits were expected to be "marginally ahead" of market expectations for the current financial year.

Customer numbers grew at an annualised growth rate of 11% after the company changed the way it paid. The company confirmed that these changes were received "enthusiastically" by the channel, and that a high level of customer growth had been accompanied by an increase in the average number of services being taken by each new customer.

In addition, the company boasted that Opus Energy Group, in which Telecity has a 20% equity investment, was performing ahead of budget and was on track to deliver "record" profits for the current financial year.

Finally, the company has acquired a freehold interest in Merit House, Edgware Road, London for a total cash consideration of approximately £6.6 million. "[The] building will provide the capacity for us to manage substantially in excess of one million customers in due course," stressed chief executive Andrew Lindsay.

The company will announce its final results for the year ending 31 March on 23 May.

13:47 - Telecity Group (TCY) posted revenues and pre-tax profits up 22.1% and 26.3% respectively as it published its full-year results for the year ended 31 December.

The company also said that the group's future growth prospects had been "significantly enhanced with investments being made in capacity across Europe and with the acquisitions of Data Electronics in Dublin and UK Grid in Manchester.

"These investments will help continue to drive TelecityGroup's demand driven growth in terms of scale and profitability as we increase our capacity from 68 megawatts (MW) to 124MW in response to growing customer demand," commented the company.

Finally the company confirmed a positive outlook for 2012. "We have entered 2012 in a strong position, with a solid opening order book and pipeline of new opportunities from new and existing customers," stated chief executive Michael Tobin.

13:30 - There was plenty of commodities action on the Alternative Investment Market on Monday, as 10 companies including Strategic Minerals (SML), Circle Oil (COP) and Faroe Petroleum (FPM) provided updates.

Read our round-up of the news in: 10 AIM commodities players update investors.

13:13 - Dairy Crest (DCG) warned investors that its bad debt provision would increase by up to £4 million after one of its customers, Quadra Foods, called in administrators.

The total debt owed to Dairy Crest by Quadra was £4 million. However, the company said that it was "looking at several options to reduce the amount involved". Additionally, Dairy Crest confirmed that the charge would be treated as an exceptional item in 2011/12, and as such, would "not impact on our dividend considerations".

"Dairy Crest has annual sales of £1.6 billion and this is an isolated incident," commented the company, stressing that it would have "no material effect" on the year-end borrowings.

12:50 - Seymour Pierce has initiated coverage of 11 AIM-listed commodities firms which it considers have interesting investment cases.

"We believe that key criteria investors should focus on are strong management teams, assets which can be commercialised and a deliverable strategy which will yield shareholder value within a reasonable timeframe," the broker said in a note.

It added: "AIM suffers from a great number of companies that tick none of these boxes. However, we believe that the companies covered in this report tick most if not all of these boxes and should be worth your consideration."
The companies, with initial recommendations by analyst Dr Doug Youngson, were:

12:25 - The latest operational update from Xtract Energy (XTR) revealed that the Luna prospect, offshore Denmark, was spudded on 12 February.

The Maersk Resolve rig will drill the well to a depth of 2,250 metres with a reservoir sandstone thickness prognosis of around 90 metres.

For the full story, read: Xtract announces Luna spud.

12:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) remained on good form on Monday as the relief over Greece brought out the bulls.

The blue-chip index added 59 points to 5911 as Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) climbed higher and Polymetal (POLY) slipped lower.

On AIM, there was more success for DCD Media (DCD), up 51%, while Alexander David Securities (ADS) remained in the red.

Interactive Investor users were trading in higher volumes than usual through the site, with Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP), Xcite Energy (XEL) and Lloyds proving popular with buyers, while Sound Oil (SOU) was bought and sold in almost equal measure.

Yusuf Heusen, sales trader at IG Index, noted that the week has started off very quietly on the economic front, and with no US data to be released today, attention remains focused on the eurozone.

"The next stage will be a meeting of eurozone finance ministers taking place later this week, and we can be sure that there will be further bumps in the road to unnerve markets, even as the bulls look to extend the rally," he commented.

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,728.28

WTI crude oil: $99.58

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5805

GBP/EUR: 1.1921

EUR/USD: 1.3255

All changes from 09:00 GMT.

11:48 - Shares in Sound Oil (SOU) dropped as it updated investors on difficulties leading to the abandonment of its Cataka-1 exploration well in Indonesia.

The firm said that drilling the upper section has continued to be difficult due to the unstable nature of the rock formations.

Read: Sound Oil hit by Indonesian drilling abandonment, for the full story.

11:24 - Total proved recoverable reserves grew by 12% at northern Russia-focused oil producer Exillon Energy (EXI) in the 11 months to 1 November.

Reserves stood at 125 million barrels (mmbbls) at the end of the period, compared with 112 mmbbls at 31 December 2010 (end of Exillon's fiscal year), helped by the strong increase within the licence in West Siberia, where the group operates as Exillon WS.

Exillon WS's 1P reserves rose 24% from 52 mmbbls to 65 mmbbls, while they grew by only 1% in Timan-Pechora (Exillon TP) to 60.2 mmbbls.

10:59 - Lamprell (LAM) has been awarded a $62 million (c£39 million) contract by Leighton Offshore for the fabrication of two topsides and jackets with metering skid and associated piping in connection with the Iraq crude oil export facility reconstruction.

The works, which are due for delivery in the fourth quarter of 2012, will be performed at Lamprell's Sharjah facility.

The company has also concluded the sales of Hulls 106 and 108. At the time of the delivery, expected to be towards the end of February 2012, the final instalment of the purchase price together with certain other fees totalling $27 million will be payable to Lamprell. It has also launched two of its new-build offshore vessels with expected delivery dates of the second and third quarters of this year.

Finally, the engineering products provider announced that audit committee chairman, Richard Raynaut, will be retiring from the board at the next annual general meeting in June. He is also a member of the nomination and remuneration committees.

10:35 - Greece has pulled itself from the brink of a default after approving a package of austerity measures.

The new package, which was carried by 199 in favour to 74 against, will now be presented at a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday before bail-out funds can be released.

For the full story, read: Greece approves austerity package.

10:16 - Anglo American (AAL) notified investors that it will report $140 million of underlying earnings in respect of Anglo American Platinum for the year ended 31 December.

The company will report its full-year results on 17 February.

09:57 - Italy's banking sector suffered a blow late on Friday as credit ratings agency Standard and Poor's downgraded almost every major bank.

The review involves 34 of the 37 banks covered by the agency and includes UniCredit, Intesa Sanpaolo, Banco Popolare, Banca Nazionale del Lavoro and Mediobanca.

09:38 - Vodafone (VOD) said on Monday that Cable and Wireless Worldwide (CW.) was a possible takeover target.

In a statement, Vodafone confirmed that it was in "the very early stages of evaluating the merits of a potential offer" for the company.

Read: Vodafone weighs up bid for Cable & Wireless Worldwide, for the full story.

09:19 - Britain will grow 0.9% in 2012, down from 1.2% predicted in November, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

The CBI predicted that quarter-on-quarter GDP growth will accelerate from 0.2% in the first two quarters of this year to 0.6% and 0.5% in the third and fourth quarters respectively. Additionally, it estimates that inflation will fall to 2.2% in the final quarter of 2012 and stay close to the 2% target throughout 2013.

"With the economy on a slightly firmer footing but with inflation well under control, we do not anticipate further quantitative easing beyond that which was announced by the Bank of England [on Thursday]," said Ian McCafferty, the CBI's chief economic adviser.

09:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) showed strength at the open on Monday following the Greek parliament's approval of the austerity bill over the weekend.

London's leading index climbed 50 points to 5903 with Anglo American (AAL) riding high on the movers list, while Polymetal (POLY) edged south.

On AIM, oil and gas minnow TXO (TXO) had a good start to the session, up 20% as shares in financial company Alexander David Securities (ADS), fell 35%.

Interactive Investor users were busy trading old favourites Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) and Gulf Keystone Petroleum (GKP) on Monday, but there was also interest in Chariot Oil and Gas (CHAR) and Xcite Energy (XEL).

At a glance...

Asian markets

Nikkei 225: 8999 ( 52)

Hang Seng: 20887 ( 103)

Shanghai Composite: 2351 ()

Commodities

Gold: $1,721.31

WTI crude oil: $99.59

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.5816

GBP/EUR: 1.1916

EUR/USD: 1.3273

08:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) opens at 5852.39.

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