London open: Stocks rise on EU fiscal compact

31st Jan 2012 08:19

UK stocks headed higher on Tuesday morning following last night's agreements made by European leaders at the EU summit.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. 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.ARM LIFTS BLUE CHIPS HIGHER Chip designer ARM was high riser of the morning, jumping over 6% in the opening minutes, 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. India-focused energy firm Essar Energy was among the worst performers after revealing that it must repay $1.235bn in sales tax to the government of Gujarat following a decision by the Supreme Court of India over the repayment of deferred sales tax.Utilities group SSE and National Grid were both in demand early on: 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%.Miners were also performing well with results from Xstrata and Vedanta impressing: Vedanta Resources 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.FTSE 250: DIXONS & CARPETRIGHT DROP EARLY ONJohn 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%.Carpet and floor coverings retailer Carpetright was also 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".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.BCFTSE 100 - RisersARM Holdings (ARM) 635.50p +6.36%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 686.00p +3.08%BP (BP.) 470.00p +2.52%National Grid (NG.) 623.50p +1.63%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,195.00p +1.62%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,264.50p +1.59%SSE (SSE) 1,228.00p +1.57%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,330.00p +1.44%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 106.80p +1.42%Admiral Group (ADM) 906.00p +1.29%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 30.60p -1.56%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 26.63p -0.49%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 177.30p -0.34%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,355.00p -0.30%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 659.00p -0.23%Carnival (CCL) 1,906.00p -0.21%Capita (CPI) 623.50p -0.16%Barclays (BARC) 213.30p -0.12%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,294.00p -0.08%Diageo (DGE) 1,417.00p -0.07%FTSE 250 - RisersNew World Resources A Shares (NWR) 461.00p +6.47%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,943.00p +4.88%Ocado Group (OCDO) 84.05p +4.80%Misys (MSY) 332.10p +3.78%AG Barr (BAG) 1,260.00p +3.28%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 745.00p +2.90%Galliford Try (GFRD) 488.20p +2.78%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 390.60p +2.52%Exillon Energy (EXI) 243.00p +2.49%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.67 +2.37%FTSE 250 - FallersDixons Retail (DXNS) 13.64p -10.50%Carpetright (CPR) 584.50p -5.34%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 173.60p -3.12%Supergroup (SGP) 630.50p -2.32%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 206.40p -1.71%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 470.50p -1.53%Homeserve (HSV) 282.00p -1.50%Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 434.40p -1.27%Bumi (BUMI) 856.50p -1.15%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 138.00p -1.00%