London close: Stocks surge ahead of Greek debt-swap deadline

8th Mar 2012 16:31

- Greek debt-swap participation rate estimated at 61 percent.- BoE, ECB keep rates on hold.- ECB cuts growth forecasts for Eurozone.The Footsie finished in the day in a bullish mood on the back of optimism that Greece will reach its participation target for the debt-swap deal to avoid a disorderly default. Meanwhile, central banks at home and abroad did what was expected by keeping rates on hold.Europe is still awaiting a final decision on the Greek debt restructuring. Private investors have until later this evening to decide if they will accept a debt exchange in which they will be required to take a 53.5% nominal haircut, in an agreement that would save Athens about €106bn (£88bn). A Greek government official has already said that it is confident of achieving the 75% participation threshold, while another told Reuters this morning that "the pace of responses to the bond offer is good, the percentage of bondholders tendering voluntarily is very high." The latest estimate, according to Reuters, pins the participation rate at around 61%, although the Greek press has cited higher figures.The Bank of England announced that it has decided to maintain its interest rates at 0.5%, marking the third consecutive year of record-low borrowing costs. The central bank also kept its asset purchases at £325bn. Fionnuala Earley, the UK consumer economist at RBS, said that "there is little to suggest it will want to raise rates for a long time yet." Meanwhile, the European Central Bank (ECB) decided once again to keep its official interest rate unchanged at 1%. Following the rate cuts applied in November and December of 2011, the ECB has been taking a "wait-and-see" approach to see the effects of its prior measures. However, ECB President Mario Draghi announced that the bank has downgraded its growth projections for the euro area in 2012 and said that risks remain to the downside.The blue chip index came off its intraday highs in afternoon trade following some worse-than-expected jobless claims data in the US.HAMMERSON, PETROFAC, BURBERRY JUMP 5% EACHReal estate investment trust Hammerson finished the day over 5% higher, benefitting from positive read-across from BNP's decision to sell a 28.7% stake in French peer Klepierre. Oilfield services firm Petrofac wasn't far behind after JP Morgan Cazenove raised its rating from neutral to overweight and lifted its target price. Burberry, a stock often sensitive to developments in the Chinese economic outlook, was one of the highest risers on the back of rumours that the country is to slash import taxes on luxury goods this year. According to a report published yesterday in English-language newspaper China Daily, the country's former deputy minister of commerce claims that "there will be at least two rounds of reductions this year on a large range of goods."Chip company ARM Holdings was a high riser after US tech giant Apple - which uses some of its technology in its gadgets - unveiled its new-and-improved iPad last night. Morgan Stanley today upgraded ARM from equal weight to overweight.Insurance firm Aviva rose strongly after beating all of its operating targets in 2011. Operating profit before tax, which eased 2% to £2.50bn from £2.55bn, was ahead of market expectations of £2.41bn.Supermarket giant Morrison rose as it surpassed both sales and profit expectations in 2011, after seeing a record number of customers in its stores. Turnover excluding VAT rose 7% to £17,663m in the 12 months ended January 29th, ahead of expectations of £17,570bn. Just a handful of stocks were in the red, with Schroders among the worst performers after announcing that its Chairman and Chief Investment Officer are calling it time on their careers at the asset management firm. Shares were falling despite the group seeing profits beat expectations in 2011. FTSE 250: IMAGINATION FIRED BY HIGH EXPECTATIONSComputer graphics chip specialist Imagination Technologies leapt after it said strong momentum in the first half has continued and it expects full year results to achieve good growth. Infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty was making gains after saying that revenues rose 3% in 2011 while profits jumped 9%. The company also announced that its Hong Kong joint venture, Gammon Construction, has won a significant airport contract on its home territory.Oil field services group Hunting jumped after revealing a 43.7% increase in its full year revenues to £608.8m, resulting in an 18% increase in its profit before tax to £38.8m. Polymers firm Fenner reported a strong trading period for the six months ended February 29th 2012, with operating profit for the half year 'significantly' ahead of the comparable period last year. BCFTSE 100 - RisersHammerson (HMSO) 411.30p +5.46%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,675.00p +5.28%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,508.00p +4.94%IMI (IMI) 989.50p +3.99%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,393.00p +3.65%CRH (CRH) 1,308.00p +3.56%ARM Holdings (ARM) 569.00p +3.55%Polymetal International (POLY) 998.50p +3.20%BG Group (BG.) 1,511.00p +3.14%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,325.00p +3.10%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 141.80p -2.94%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,824.00p -0.82%Schroders (SDR) 1,550.00p -0.70%International Power (IPR) 358.20p -0.33%Next (NXT) 2,722.00p -0.33%United Utilities Group (UU.) 614.00p -0.24%SSE (SSE) 1,290.00p -0.23%National Grid (NG.) 644.00p -0.23%Centrica (CNA) 307.50p -0.03%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,235.00p 0.00%FTSE 250 - RisersSupergroup (SGP) 568.50p +8.91%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 652.00p +8.40%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 283.80p +6.89%Hunting (HTG) 856.00p +6.67%Inmarsat (ISAT) 489.70p +6.16%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 168.80p +5.76%Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 2,120.00p +5.47%Regus (RGU) 108.20p +5.36%Fenner (FENR) 483.70p +5.22%Perform Group (PER) 285.00p +4.74%FTSE 250 - FallersComputacenter (CCC) 383.00p -2.40%SDL (SDL) 698.00p -1.97%Unite Group (UTG) 191.50p -1.85%Carpetright (CPR) 601.00p -1.80%AG Barr (BAG) 1,157.00p -1.78%Debenhams (DEB) 70.10p -1.68%Homeserve (HSV) 218.50p -1.58%Shanks Group (SKS) 102.00p -1.45%BH Macro Ltd. USD Shares (BHMU) 19.51 -1.41%Rank Group (RNK) 129.40p -1.07%