London close: Higher finish for FTSE 100

23rd Apr 2010 16:38

It was a typically quiet Friday on the company news front, but stocks posted good gains as investors took heart from the apparent stabilisation of the Greek debt situation.Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has asked the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to activate their €45bn emergency aid package for the debt-laden country. Optimism engendered by the news outweighed slight disappointment at the meagre 0.2% rise in UK GDP in the first quarter.Royal Bank of Scotland moved ahead after it received an upgrade from BarCap, which suggests RBS has a "more credible strategy for balance sheet shrinkage" than state-controlled rival Lloyds Banking. BarCap has raised its rating on RBS to overweight and doubled its price target to 70p.Among the fallers was Prudential, which announced today that it would announce the price of its $20bn rights issue on 5 May. Oil company BP said it is initiating a rapid response to clear up an oil spill following the sinking of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles south-east of New Orleans. The company is assisting operator Transocean in an assessment of the well and sub-sea blow out preventer with remotely operated vehicles.Engineer Morgan Crucible said operating profits and margins are above the comparable period for 2009 and in line with management expectations thanks to the cost savings made last year.It has been a busy month for contract announcements at Balfour Beatty and it got busier still on Friday as the contractor announced two more deals, one in Colorado, USA for $100m, and one closer to home in London for £65m.Defence industry supplier Ultra Electronics said revenue has continued to grow and its performance in the first quarter has been in line with expectations.Information Management solutions provider SDL said performance for the first quarter is in line with management expectations for both revenue and operating profit.Scalextrix maker Hornby is to return to paying dividends after the second half of the year finished stronger than expected.Home shopping firm Findel said benchmark pre-tax profit will be lower than previously expected due to difficult market condition at its educational supplies division.Testing software specialist NCC has bought rival SDLC Solutions Limited for up to £15m in cash.Shares in Irish zinc explorer Connemara jumped after drilling at its Stonepark project in zinc provided further confirmation of a high grade zinc discovery. Interactive gaming group NetPlayTV will be a launch partner on ITV1's new teleshopping trial window 'The Zone'. NetPlayTV has entered into a six month "teleshopping" airtime trial agreement with ITV to broadcast fully interactive transactional TV gaming formats on ITV1 starting during May 2010.FTSE 100 - RisersCarnival (CCL) 2,850.00p +5.87%Wolseley (WOS) 1,658.00p +5.40%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,122.00p +4.37%Kingfisher (KGF) 247.80p +4.12%British Airways (BAY) 234.20p +3.86%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,275.00p +3.84%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 55.80p +3.62%Antofagasta (ANTO) 993.50p +3.17%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.48p +3.01%Lonmin (LMI) 1,986.00p +2.95%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 254.40p -1.74%Aviva (AV.) 369.20p -1.28%Prudential (PRU) 541.00p -0.82%Bunzl (BNZL) 762.00p -0.78%United Utilities Group (UU.) 551.00p -0.54%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,238.00p -0.52%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,194.00p -0.42%Standard Life (SL.) 198.90p -0.35%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 724.00p -0.34%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,529.00p -0.33%FTSE 250 - RisersTaylor Wimpey (TW.) 43.99p +9.76%EnQuest (ENQ) 105.00p +7.69%SIG (SHI) 137.80p +5.76%Sports Direct International (SPD) 112.00p +5.66%Keller Group (KLR) 737.00p +4.99%Debenhams (DEB) 75.00p +4.82%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 131.90p +4.52%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 234.00p +4.46%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 543.00p +4.42%Petropavlovsk (POG) 1,222.00p +4.27%FTSE 250 - FallersEaga (EAGA) 135.20p -1.39%Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 215.00p -1.38%SDL International (SDL) 463.00p -1.34%BH Global USD Shares (BHGU) 11.07 -1.07%Resolution (RSL) 77.05p -0.84%Rotork (ROR) 1,387.00p -0.79%BTG (BGC) 182.10p -0.65%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 313.80p -0.57%CSR (CSR) 446.10p -0.56%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 630.00p -0.55%