London open: Thomas Cook, Dixons jump higher

24th Nov 2011 08:34

The Footsie was trading broadly flat early on, swinging between small gains and losses in the opening minutes.Weighing on sentiment was a poll by Reuters/Ipsos MORI which showed that the majority of Britons (58%) believe the economy will get worse over the next year. That is the highest figure since February 2009, when Britain was reeling from the effects of the global credit crisis. THOMAS COOK JUMPS, DIXONS IN DEMANDThere were some big movers on the FTSE 250 this morning. Struggling travel group Thomas Cook jumped nearly 20%, attempting to claw its way back after plummeting just two days ago on financing concerns. The firm, which was due to report its full-year results today, said it would delay the release until it has asked its banks about borrowing more money, due to a "deterioration of trading in some areas of the business in the current quarter". TUI Travel, which was taken down by its rival's woes, was also in recovery-mode.Dixons, the struggling electrical retailer, appears to be stemming losses as it seeks to transform itself into a service led company. Like-for-like sales between July and October were down 3% on the same period of 2010. However, this was an improvement on the previous quarter when like-for-like sales were down 7%. Shares jumped 10%.Water group Pennon fell lower despite seeing pre-tax profits rise 11.6% in the first half. However, the firm said "Customer demand has fallen by 2.3% on the same period last year, with general economic conditions impacting industrial and commercial customer demand."On the FTSE 100, Compass was the high riser of the morning, extending gains from yesterday when it announced its full-year results which saw underlying profits rise 10.6% on revenues that increased 9.4%.Miners were also performing well, with Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton and Vedanta Resources making moderate gains. The mining sector was rising an average 1.14% early on, but still remains over 7% down on the week. Antofagasta was nudging higher ahead of its third quarter statement due later today.Utilities were among the worst performers, with Severn Trent, Centrica and National Grid all in the red.BCFTSE 100 - RisersCompass Group (CPG) 553.50p +1.75%Investec (INVP) 323.40p +1.57%Anglo American (AAL) 2,213.00p +1.12%ICAP (IAP) 315.00p +1.09%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,018.00p +1.09%Admiral Group (ADM) 874.00p +1.04%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,759.00p +1.03%Barclays (BARC) 149.40p +1.01%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 291.40p +0.94%Vedanta Resources (VED) 937.50p +0.91%FTSE 100 - FallersGlencore International (GLEN) 375.75p -1.12%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,535.00p -0.90%Centrica (CNA) 285.80p -0.87%Smiths Group (SMIN) 867.50p -0.86%Aggreko (AGK) 1,687.00p -0.71%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,343.00p -0.70%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,013.00p -0.69%BP (BP.) 423.60p -0.66%National Grid (NG.) 628.00p -0.63%Tesco (TSCO) 382.45p -0.60%FTSE 250 - RisersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 13.30p +19.60%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 10.30p +10.04%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 15.38p +8.31%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 32.70p +4.54%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 104.60p +3.98%Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 706.00p +3.52%TUI Travel (TT.) 158.50p +2.92%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 66.00p +2.48%Supergroup (SGP) 446.00p +2.48%Amlin (AML) 309.60p +2.35%FTSE 250 - FallersRedrow (RDW) 102.10p -2.67%Hiscox Ltd. (HSX) 358.70p -2.58%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,026.00p -2.38%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 120.70p -2.35%Renishaw (RSW) 808.00p -2.12%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 166.70p -1.94%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 285.10p -1.79%Savills (SVS) 275.30p -1.68%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 408.10p -1.66%Pennon Group (PNN) 687.00p -1.43%