Markets End Losing Streak
A lack of significant company news left markets buffeted about by economic and political winds.
Ben Bernanke’s tempered optimism gave markets another small reason to be cheerful. The chairman of the Federal Reserve said that the US economy was recovering at a moderate pace with GDP of 3.5% likely in 2011. However, he warned that jobs growth would not automatically follow and the budget deficit remained a cause for concern.
Unsurprisingly, it was the miners who reaped the most benefit from the news that China’s exports may be as much as 50% higher in May over 2009. It suggested that global demand generally and in turn, for commodities, may prove more resilient previously thought. Kazakhmys, Fresnillo and Xstrata were all among the day’s biggest gainers, rising 4.4% to 47p, 4.6% to 982.5p and 4% to 961.7p respectively.
BT Group also had a strong day’s trading, rising 3.9% to 130.5p. The shares recouped much of Monday and Tuesday’s losses, which had been prompted by the news of strike action by the Communication Workers’ Union.
Further down the market cap, Misys was the day’s top performer among the mid-caps. It rose 11.4% to 249p after announcing that it would return £700m to shareholders from the proceeds of its 54.6% holding in US healthcare technology company Allscripts.
IG Group also had a strong day’s trading after it said that revenues for the full year would be ahead of expectations. Income has been given a boost by current market volatility, but the group is also seeing an increase in new account openings and strong growth in its overseas markets.
Weir Group rose 2.8% to on the back of a Goldman Sachs upgrade from neutral to buy. It worked in the opposite direction for industrial engineering group Bodycote, which saw a downgrade from buy to neutral, pushing its shares down 1% to 182.5p.
There were only seven fallers on the FTSE 100 today, but BP topped the list once again. The US government has ordered the oil giant to put sufficient tanker capacity in the Gulf of Mexico to capture 28,000 barrels of oil a day from its leaking well. Optimism that its latest initiative to stem the leak may prove successful has been short-lived and the shares were down 4.2% to 391.5p. Rival Shell was also down, but by just 0.3% to 1703p.