London close: Stocks end higher

30th May 2013 17:30

The FTSE 100 finished the day higher, although sentiment remained fragile following the sell-off the day before, with investors taking caution ahead of some key economic indicators due out Stateside, which in the end all came in slightly worse than expectations. Such figures may help a little to cool expectations for Fed tapering. In that same vein, on Thursday quite a bit of market commentary was highlighting how any such move by the country's central bank will be dependent on the economic data showing that economic growth is sustainable. Having said that, and echoing a widely heard theme in markets of late, in a research note dated May 29th strategists at Nomura wrote that "In the US, a rise in capital expenditures and the continued improvement in housing should drive demand."Meanwhile, overnight trading in Japanese equities saw volatile trading conditions, with the benchmark Nikkei index dropping over 5.0% as the yen continued to strengthen against the dollar, although Japanese government bond markets were largely quiescent. Not lost on the markets however is the fact that volatility gauges for global FX markets and US Treasuries are now at their highest in almost a year.Miners track metals higherAcross-the-board gains in metals prices saw miners perform relatively well, with Fresnillo, ENRC, Polymetal, Randgold and Glencore Xstrata on the up.Tullow Oil also rose despite saying that it has been forced to plug and abandon another one of its exploration wells, this time off the coast of Cote D'Ivoire.Analysts at Barclays Research have pointed out today to clients how while US utilities and bond yields have historically had a strong relationship that between UK utilities and Gilt yields is not so clear cut. In the case of National Grid, in particular, they further highlight the fact that "the [UK] sector's inflation-hedged dividends still look very cheap to us versus bonds," to which one must add their low risk profile.B&Q owner Kingfisher turned around and finished the session as the best performer on the Footsie, despite revealing a 0.4% fall in first-quarter sales as a result of weak consumer confidence and unseasonably cold weather in March and early April. Mid-morning Credit Suisse issued a research note saying it remains upbeat about the business, keeping an 'outperform' rating for the stock. Severn Trent was subdued after the utilities company reported an annual profit that slightly missed analysts' expectations. Of interest, Barclays Research highlighted to clients that historically the relationship between Gilt yields and UK utilities is not that clear.Ingredients group Tate & Lyle fell despite its full-year profits coming in ahead of forecasts. Analysts at Canaccord Genuity said this morning that consensus forecasts for the current year are likely to be trimmed.Tesco was out of favour after JP Morgan Cazenove downgraded the stock from 'overweight' to 'neutral' to reflect its "cautious view on the UK food retail market as a whole, of which Tesco represents 30%".In contrast, Wood Group was in demand after Morgan Stanley upgraded its rating on the stock from 'equal weight' to 'overweight', saying that the business is well positioned to cope with a lower growth outlook for spending in the oil services sector.FTSE 100 - RisersKingfisher (KGF) 349.70p +6.68%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,156.00p +6.15%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,225.00p +5.75%Polymetal International (POLY) 690.00p +4.86%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,434.00p +3.91%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,390.00p +3.58%CRH (CRH) 1,435.00p +2.65%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,933.00p +2.53%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 280.60p +2.41%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,219.00p +2.35%FTSE 100 - FallersTesco (TSCO) 367.25p -1.54%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 836.50p -1.47%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,482.00p -1.46%Land Securities Group (LAND) 933.50p -1.32%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 963.00p -1.23%Croda International (CRDA) 2,508.00p -1.22%National Grid (NG.) 788.50p -1.07%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,164.00p -1.05%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 275.30p -1.01%British Land Co (BLND) 616.00p -0.89%FTSE 250 - RisersTullett Prebon (TLPR) 295.00p +7.31%FirstGroup (FGP) 126.10p +6.86%ICAP (IAP) 370.30p +5.95%Lonmin (LMI) 287.00p +5.90%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 242.00p +5.08%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 253.40p +5.01%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 114.40p +4.47%Petropavlovsk (POG) 135.40p +4.31%Perform Group (PER) 582.00p +4.02%Regus (RGU) 168.30p +3.57%FTSE 250 - FallersNew World Resources A Shares (NWR) 99.30p -7.97%RPS Group (RPS) 208.60p -3.96%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 43.89p -3.30%KCOM Group (KCOM) 83.95p -2.84%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 404.40p -2.72%Worldwide Healthcare Trust (WWH) 1,081.00p -2.08%BTG (BTG) 352.50p -1.92%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 488.20p -1.73%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 332.50p -1.60%Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 774.50p -1.53%FTSE TechMARK - RisersElectronic Data Processing (EDP) 69.50p +9.45%Optos (OPTS) 127.50p +3.66%CML Microsystems (CML) 435.00p +3.20%Ricardo (RCDO) 409.00p +2.25%Xaar (XAR) 653.00p +1.16%Consort Medical (CSRT) 790.00p +1.09%Sepura (SEPU) 118.00p +0.43%Filtronic (FTC) 62.00p 0.00%Puricore (PURI) 40.50p 0.00%Kofax (KFX) 325.00p 0.00%FTSE TechMARK - FallersPromethean World (PRW) 15.25p -4.69%Parity Group (PTY) 30.00p -1.64%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 151.00p -1.31%Vislink (VLK) 30.00p -1.23%BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 20.38p -1.21%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 213.50p -1.16%Emblaze Ltd. (BLZ) 50.00p -0.99%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,229.00p -0.49%Vectura Group (VEC) 86.75p -0.29%NCC Group (NCC) 108.50p -0.23%AB