London open: Stocks rise ahead of ECB decision

3rd May 2012 08:34

- Mixed reception to barrage of blue-chip corporate updates- ECB expected to maintains rates- Kesa in demand after Darty developmentThe FTSE 100 rose strongly on Thursday morning, rebounding after a sharp fall the day before, with investors looking ahead to an interest rate decision from the European Central Bank (ECB) due out after midday.The ECB is widely expected to leave rates unchanged today as it assess the impact of the recent rounds of cheap bank funding, the long-term refinancing operations (LTROs). "The ECB press conference should give indication of whether any further easing is planned for the struggling Eurozone countries today," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari. An announcement is due at 12:45 (London time).Stocks sank yesterday after US non-farm payrolls in March came in much lower than expectations. "While a slowing recovery is bad news for the US, it's even worse news for the Eurozone who are relying on the US to drive the global recovery in order to stimulate global growth needed if the austerity measures are going to have any chance of working, which at the moment it would appear they're not," Alpari's Erlam said.FTSE 100: S&N on the up, resources stocks unwantedProfits at medical technology group Smith and Nephew beat both analysts' and management forecasts in the first quarter of 2012, which it said was down to the actions being taken to reshape the company.Miners were out of favour early on. The Chilean-based copper mining company Antofagasta saw production drop sharply in the first three months of 2012 as maintenance work, lower ore grades and technical problem hampered activity. Meanwhile, gold miner Randgold fell after revealing that both first-quarter profits and production fell quarter-on-quarter despite a strong rise on last year as output was held back the political upheaval in Mali and issues in Côte d'Ivoire.Oil and gas giant BG Group dropped despite its first-quarter net earnings coming in sharply up on last year, with the group promising more growth to come as new production comes on stream.Fund manager Schroders rose after seeing assets under management rise in the first quarter despite a dip in pre-tax profits and inflows.Supermarket group Morrisons was in demand after saying that its financial outlook for the year ending January 2013 remains unchanged despite like-for-like (LFL) sales falling in the first quarter. Drinks group Diageo fell as it continued to report weakness in its European markets. Nevertheless, group net sales grew 11% in the third quarter and 9% in the nine months to March 31st.FTSE 250: Kesa jumps after Darty Telecom disposalKesa Electricals rose strongly after saying that its Darty France business has entered into a new commercial agreement with Bouygues Telecom, under which Bouygues will acquire 99.9% of Darty Telecom. Paper and packaging firm Mondi was lower after operating profits fell from €179m to €120m in the first quarter with the group saying that the weaker trading environment last year continued into 2012.FTSE 100 - RisersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 620.00p +2.39%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,541.00p +1.72%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,572.00p +1.50%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 853.50p +1.43%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 709.00p +1.43%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 330.40p +1.38%WPP (WPP) 852.00p +1.37%United Utilities Group (UU.) 628.50p +1.29%British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,229.00p +1.29%Whitbread (WTB) 1,998.00p +1.27%FTSE 100 - FallersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,111.00p -4.14%BG Group (BG.) 1,407.00p -3.03%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 119.50p -1.89%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 835.50p -1.71%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,260.00p -1.68%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,396.50p -1.24%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,195.00p -0.91%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,665.00p -0.89%Evraz (EVR) 363.70p -0.87%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 555.50p -0.80%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 320.30p +6.77%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 59.55p +6.34%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 296.60p +2.35%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 410.00p +2.30%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 580.00p +2.29%Logica (LOG) 78.35p +1.82%Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 500.00p +1.48%WH Smith (SMWH) 532.00p +1.33%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 653.50p +1.32%Cranswick (CWK) 821.00p +1.23%FTSE 250 - FallersFenner (FENR) 425.10p -5.03%Home Retail Group (HOME) 84.95p -2.97%Redrow (RDW) 122.10p -1.93%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 58.75p -1.67%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 590.00p -1.67%Lamprell (LAM) 361.90p -1.31%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 179.60p -1.26%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 517.00p -1.15%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 130.00p -1.14%Diploma (DPLM) 454.80p -1.13%BC