London close: Footsie limps back into positive territory

27th May 2009 17:02

The movements of London's blue-chip index looked as if they were being directed by the grand old Duke of York today, with the index starting the day on the up, then heading lower over the lunchtime session before finishing roughly where it started. Sterling moved above $1.60 for the first time since November of last year, giving a boost to holiday-related stocks such as InterContinental Hotels Thomas Cook and TUI Travel.On the downside, Mexico-based silver miner Fresnillo fell back despite reporting a strong start to 2009, with silver production up 9% on last year and stable gold production. Tullow Oil said the Awaka-1 exploration well, located in the Butiaba region of Uganda Block 2, has been plugged and abandoned after only encountering water bearing reservoir sands. Elsewhere in the oil sector, Royal Dutch Shell's new chief executive Peter Voser has unveiled a sweeping reorganisation that will see the Anglo-Dutch's oil and gas division merged in with its oil exploration and production and oil sands businesses. "This new structure will increase accountability in the company, and improve Shell's performance on delivering new projects and developing new technologies," Voser told employees at the start of a two-day meeting to unveil Shell's new strategy.ITV was thje best performing FTSE 250 stock after Goldman Sachs upgraded it from 'sell' to 'buy' and added it to its 'conviction buy' list. The US bank has been prompted by more positive macro data to lift its 2010 earnings forecast for the European media sector by 23% on average. Elsewhere in the sector Daily Mail and General Trust and Aegis also received a fillip from the Goldman Sachs research.Recent rights issuer Great Portland Estates has terminated £190m of interest rate derivatives at a cost of £18.2m. The transaction results in a reduction in the weighted average interest rate from 5.2% to 2.9% on current net debt levels. The stock trades lower today in ex-div form.Plant hire group Speedy Hire posted a sharp widening in losses in the year to 31 March and said trading in the new financial year is more difficult than anticipated. The firm reported pre-tax losses of £70.6m, compared with £30.5m the previous year. Goodfellas pizza and Fox's biscuits maker Northern Foods held its dividend as sales last year rose and underlying profits came in slightly better than gloomy predictions, though 'as reported' profits took a £35.4m hit from restructuring charges. Retailer Topps Tiles' profits slumped barely to above break-even in the half year to March as sales continued to slide but investors were encouraged by the management's confident assertion that it expects to operate within its current financial covenants this year.Soft drinks maker Britvic lost its fizz after private equity group Permira offloaded its near 14% stake in the company. UBS is said to have placed 30m shares at around 265.5p in the Chelmsford based drinks firm.Camera retailer Jessops said shareholders are unlikely to realise any value from their equity as talks continue with their lenders and as it reports a fresh deterioration in sales.Elsewhere in the retail sector Marks & Spencer and Next were lower after going ex-div but Argos and Homebase group Home Retail Group was in demand, as was fellow DIY retailer Kingfisher, on the day the British Bankers' Association reported that mortgage approvals rose, albeit modestly, in April.Gearbox designer Torotrak was stuck in reverse, despite narrowed pre-tax losses for the year on turnover that jumped 25%.The market gave an enthusiastic response to the release of a technical evaluation report on Hardy Oil and Gas's D3 and D9 exploration licences in the Krishna Godavari Basin.'The report confirms the significant hydrocarbon potential of our exploration assets in the emerging world class petroleum system of the Krishna Godavari Basin in India,' said Hardy's chief executive, Sastry Karra.Avanti Communications agreed a deal with the European Commission worth €600,000 over three years to provide satellite communications technology for ports, lorry parks and terminals in the North Sea. Recruitment group Synergy has signed a minimum two year contract worth £124,000 with Bond International Software to implement the recruitment software application Adapt. Engineering group Kentz has won a 'multi-million dollar' contract to undertake electrical, instrumentation and telecommunications work on a gas storage and loading facility in Qatar owned by a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum. Fuel cell group Proton Power Systems' subsidiary Proton Motor GmbH has signed a five-year agreement with outsourcing group Deutsche Mechatronics GmbH to produce fuel cells in Germany.There were big gains for Telford Homes despite a drop in full-year profit as the developer responsible for affordable homes in East London remains "cautiously optimistic". Profit before tax for the year ended 31 March 2009 slipped to £4.3m from £6.5m in 2008 due to £2.9m of write downs to the value of land and work in progress, plus £100,000 of redundancy costs.Renewable energy firm Novera ran into selling headwinds after its planning appeal for the Mountboy wind farm in Angus, Scotland, was rejected by the Scottish government.FTSE 100 - RisersInterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 675.00p +5.97%Man Group (EMG) 250.00p +5.37%Old Mutual (OML) 73.50p +4.85%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 233.75p +4.00%FTSE 100 - FallersLonmin (LMI) 1,301.00p -4.06%Fresnillo (FRES) 679.00p -4.03%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 61.90p -2.83%Cobham (COB) 181.50p -2.52%FTSE 250 - RisersITV (ITV) 31.50p +12.50%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 283.25p +11.08%FTSE 250 - FallersBritvic (BVIC) 275.00p -5.34%Northern Foods (NFDS) 58.00p -4.53%