London close: Stocks settle higher ahead of Christmas

24th Dec 2013 12:10

- British Land rallies on Broadgate joint venture- Tullow Oil pulls plug on North Sea well- UK mortgage borrowing rises in NovemberMarket MoverstechMARK 2,768.95 +0.26%FTSE 100 6,694.17 +0.23%FTSE 250 15,783.04 +0.26%London's leading shares closed higher in Tuesday's shortened trading session, with financials and mining stocks managing to push ahead in an otherwise subdued session. London's stock market closed at the earlier time of 12:30 and will remain closed until Friday.In UK economic news, net secured mortgage borrowing increased by £0.3bn in November to £781.6bn, the latest figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) showed. Later on Tuesday, US orders for durable goods is expected to show an increase of 2% for the month of November.British Land, Tullow OilBritish Land was a strong riser after it said it had signed a joint venture agreement with real estate investor GIC to develop Broadgate, a key office complex in London."This partnership provides us with the ideal platform to deliver the long-term vision for Broadgate... from what is one of Central London's premier office locations," said British Land Chief Executive Officer Chris Grigg.Elsewhere independent oil and gas exploration and production group Tullow Oil confirmed its exploration well on the Mantra prospect offshore Norway has encountered reservoir quality sands but all intervals are water wet. Drilling at the well in the North Sea has been terminated and will now be logged before being plugged and abandoned.BSkyB confirmed is has made a $350,000 equity investment in Jaunt, a technology company based in Palo Alto, California which specialises in video capture and display. The Serious Fraud Office said it has started a formal investigation into allegations of bribery and corruption at engine maker Rolls-Royce that could lead to criminal prosecutions.Millennium & Copthorne Hotels said it will extend its global hotel portfolio with the acquisition of a new property in the Chelsea district of London for £65m.FTSE 100 - RisersBritish Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 833.00p +2.52%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 400.80p +1.52%Persimmon (PSN) 1,219.00p +1.41%ITV (ITV) 193.00p +1.37%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,304.00p +1.32%Melrose Industries (MRO) 296.70p +1.30%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,802.00p +1.29%Sports Direct International (SPD) 726.50p +1.25%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,131.00p +1.19%Reed Elsevier (REL) 894.50p +1.13%FTSE 100 - FallersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,305.00p -1.58%ARM Holdings (ARM) 1,095.00p -1.35%Tullow Oil (TLW) 838.00p -1.18%CRH (CRH) 1,506.00p -0.92%Aviva (AV.) 442.10p -0.83%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 308.05p -0.65%Diageo (DGE) 1,956.00p -0.41%Carnival (CCL) 2,455.00p -0.37%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 445.50p -0.36%Wolseley (WOS) 3,366.00p -0.33%FTSE 250 - RisersJD Sports Fashion (JD.) 1,426.00p +6.10%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 732.00p +4.57%Partnership Assurance Group (PA.) 305.00p +4.10%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 176.00p +3.96%Polymetal International (POLY) 530.00p +3.62%Hunting (HTG) 769.00p +2.95%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 184.00p +2.79%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 373.10p +2.67%Aveva Group (AVV) 2,196.00p +2.66%Redrow (RDW) 308.00p +2.56%FTSE 250 - FallersInternational Personal Finance (IPF) 540.00p -12.12%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 755.00p -2.58%Betfair Group (BET) 1,068.00p -2.20%Investec (INVP) 427.90p -2.17%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 106.60p -1.75%Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 295.00p -1.67%Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 1,013.00p -1.65%Close Brothers Group (CBG) 1,350.00p -1.53%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 513.00p -1.44%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 326.10p -1.39%FTSE TechMARK - RisersWolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 147.75p +5.91%Triad Group (TRD) 8.00p +3.23%SDL (SDL) 355.75p +3.12%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 128.50p +1.78%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,597.50p +1.75%Dialight (DIA) 857.50p +1.66%Optos (OPTS) 202.00p +1.51%Vislink (VLK) 45.25p +1.40%Anite (AIE) 100.75p +1.26%Vectura Group (VEC) 139.25p +0.91%FTSE TechMARK - FallersSarossa Capital (SRC) 1.18p -2.08%RM (RM.) 110.00p -1.35%Skyepharma (SKP) 117.00p -0.85%Ricardo (RCDO) 667.00p -0.30%Sepura (SEPU) 134.75p -0.19%E2V Technologies (E2V) 155.75p -0.16%Consort Medical (CSRT) 963.50p -0.16%NCC Group (NCC) 185.75p -0.13%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 177.81 -0.07%