London open: Bwin, 888 lead the rise

31st Aug 2011 08:48

The Footsie edged higher in early trading on the back of a rally in New York last night after minutes from the last meeting of the Federal Reserve showed policymakers considered stimulus measures to kickstart the world's biggest economy.In London, online gaming firm bwin.party surged higher on the FTSE 250 despite saying that a fall in revenue combined with the launch into newly regulated markets drove down EBITDA by 21% in the first half to €81.9m. Nevertheless, that still beat the €75.7m that some analysts were expecting.Sector peer 888 Holdings also reported first half earnings ahead of some forecasts, on the back of a strong performance from its poker business.Among the FTSE 100 blue chips, Smith & Nephew was the high riser, followed by engineers Weir, IMI, GKN and Rolls-Royce.The real estate investment trust (REIT) sector was heavily in the red. British Land, Hammerson, Land Securities and Capital Shopping Centres were among those to fall lower. Supermarket giant Tesco rose after announcing that it its to sell its Japanese interests having concluded that it "cannot build a sufficiently scalable business" there.Eastern Europe-focused oil group JKX Oil & Gas fell lower after it posted a decline in half year profit as it completes its Russian redevelopment project.Books and stationary retailer WH Smith was firmer after it announced plans to buy-back another round of shares in 2012, following the £55m repurchased this year. Circle Oil, the oil and gas company with assets in Morocco, Tunisia, Oman and Egypt, was in demand after saying it has successfully drilled a water injection well to support production in its Geyad Field in the Gulf of Suez Basin.Australia-focused miner Norseman Gold fell into the red after it swung to a pre-tax loss of A$27.2m in the year ended 30 June, compared with a profit of A$1.1m the year before, as full-year gold production came in below expectations.Self storage company Safestore jumped after revealing a 5.4% increase in third quarter revenue.BCFTSE 100 - RisersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 622.00p +4.27%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,898.00p +2.26%Wolseley (WOS) 1,559.00p +2.16%GKN (GKN) 200.10p +1.94%Xstrata (XTA) 1,045.00p +1.90%Man Group (EMG) 221.50p +1.89%IMI (IMI) 864.50p +1.83%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 628.00p +1.78%Aggreko (AGK) 1,897.00p +1.72%Smiths Group (SMIN) 961.00p +1.59%FTSE 100 - FallersSchroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,147.00p -4.10%Schroders (SDR) 1,425.00p -3.78%British Land Co (BLND) 532.00p -2.21%Land Securities Group (LAND) 714.00p -1.92%Hammerson (HMSO) 400.30p -1.48%Barclays (BARC) 164.35p -0.63%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 330.50p -0.60%Prudential (PRU) 595.00p -0.50%Centrica (CNA) 296.00p -0.47%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 255.50p -0.47%