London midday: Stocks continue to climb after EU summit

31st Jan 2012 11:48

UK stocks had extending gains by lunchtime with results from ARM Holdings, British Sky Broadcasting and Vedanta Resources lifting the Footsie nearly 1% higher. Markets across Europe appear to have taken the agreements made by EU leaders yesterday well with the major benchmark indices rebounding from yesterday's steep losses.President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy revealed that the permanent rescue fund and 'fiscal compact' had been approved at the meeting in Brussels. "Today we have taken decisions on a number of fronts in order to further restore confidence in our economies," he said. Van Rompuy said that 25 out of the 27 European Union (EU) agreed and endorsed a new "fiscal compact" (with the UK and the Czech Republic failing to agree), which "is all about more responsibility and better surveillance". All 17 Eurozone nations endorsed the European Stability Mechanism which will come into effect from July, one year earlier than expected. However, Barclays Capital analyst Thomas Harjes said this morning: "The lack of measurable progress on important and contentious issues at yesterday's EU summit was disappointing."Meanwhile, some large European banks are planning on doubling, or even tripling, the amount of funds they request from the European Central Bank (ECB) in the February auction, according to a front page report in today's Financial Times.In domestic news, mortgage approvals rose to a 24-month high in December, according to the Bank of England; while GFK's index of consumer confidence in the UK improved during the month of January to -29 points, versus -33 in December and -29 one year ago.ARM, BSKYB, VEDANTA LEAD FTSE 100 HIGHER AFTER RESULTSChip designer ARM was a high riser after revenues and pre-tax profits rose strongly in 2011. Revenues reached £491.8m and pre-tax profits totalled £229.7m, above Nomura's forecasts of £475m and £215m, respectively. BSkyB rose strongly after seeing half-year pre-tax profit rise from £467m to £597m, as it added a further 100,000 households to its customer bases. Total customer numbers are now at 10.471m or roughly 16% of the British population. These customers pushed total revenues up 6% over the equivalent period of 2010 to £3.364bn while the crucial average revenue per user metric (ARPU) grew from £536 to £544. Miners were also performing well with results from Vedanta and Xstrata impressing: Vedanta has reported record production volumes of refined silver and lead for the third quarter and nine months ended December 31st; while Xstrata reported record output from its Australian thermal coal operations in 2011, as its new Mangoola mine helped offset flooding at the beginning of 2011.Utilities group SSE and National Grid were both in demand: SSE said it was on course to deliver an increase in the dividend per share and an increase in pre-tax profits for the financial year to 31 March 2012; while National Grid has set out a new one-year dividend policy starting next year, in which it promises to deliver nominal dividend growth of 4%.FTSE 250: RETAILERS PROVIDE A DRAGCarpet and floor coverings retailer Carpetright was suffering heavy losses after warning that full-year underlying pre-tax profit is expected to be below the lower end of forecasts "based on the current pace of sales and margin improvement".John Browett, who has been battling to turn around the struggling Dixons Retail empire, is to quit the company to become Senior Vice President of Retail operations at Apple, the US consumer electronics giant. Dixons tumbled over 10% early on but recovered to trade around 3% down at midday.Heading the other way was groceries delivery firm Ocado after saying its sales growth in 2011 outdid others in the sector, while top-line growth in 2012 should accelerate once its sorts out its capacity constraints. FTSE 100 - RisersAdmiral Group (ADM) 935.00p +4.53%ARM Holdings (ARM) 624.00p +4.44%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,211.00p +2.98%BP (BP.) 472.00p +2.96%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 685.00p +2.93%Aviva (AV.) 352.50p +2.86%IMI (IMI) 856.50p +2.51%National Grid (NG.) 626.50p +2.12%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,459.00p +2.10%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,369.00p +2.09%FTSE 100 - FallersMorrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 283.50p -1.84%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 692.50p -1.07%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,150.00p -0.86%Unilever (ULVR) 2,050.00p -0.82%Capita (CPI) 620.50p -0.64%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 30.89p -0.63%Diageo (DGE) 1,409.50p -0.60%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,195.00p -0.42%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,422.00p -0.39%Land Securities Group (LAND) 679.00p -0.37%FTSE 250 - RisersNew World Resources A Shares (NWR) 465.00p +7.39%Misys (MSY) 339.10p +5.97%Home Retail Group (HOME) 104.30p +5.46%Exillon Energy (EXI) 249.10p +5.06%Ocado Group (OCDO) 84.25p +5.05%National Express Group (NEX) 218.00p +4.61%Bodycote (BOY) 312.10p +4.17%RPS Group (RPS) 205.40p +3.48%International Personal Finance (IPF) 192.50p +3.44%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 279.90p +3.28%FTSE 250 - FallersCarpetright (CPR) 566.50p -8.26%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 169.30p -5.52%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 14.62p -4.07%SDL (SDL) 664.00p -3.63%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 135.00p -3.16%Supergroup (SGP) 628.00p -2.71%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 125.40p -2.03%Berendsen (BRSN) 448.70p -1.77%Kier Group (KIE) 1,335.00p -1.48%Hays (HAS) 71.00p -1.39%