Could the Santa rally finally be here? The Footsie was today on course to finish the week higher for the first time in seven weeks. The gain — more than 2.5% — is the biggest positive move since the summer and offsets the weak start to the month.
Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said: “The Fed’s taper announcement continues to be digested as a signal of economic recovery rather than policy tightening, [and that has] combined with a bit of a traditional Santa rally.” But low volumes mean the market remains volatile.
As the FTSE 100 jumped 29.61 points to 6614.31, it was set to welcome new stocks tonight in the shape of Royal Mail and Ashtead, the construction equipment rental group. Ashtead, whose share price has leapt more than 67% so far this year, edged back 3p to 759.75p. Royal Mail was unmoved at 589.75p.
The mid-tier table will welcome theme park operator Merlin Entertainments. Analysts at HSBC gave it a neutral rating and said the Legoland operator is “high quality… with a diversified portfolio and proven track record” but its shares are fully valued. It built up a 4.5p gain to 370.125p. All the FTSE quarterly reshuffle moves take effect tonight and will start trading on Monday.
Cruise ship operator Carnival provided a better than expected fourth- quarter update yesterday and a number of analysts rated it a buy today. It sailed to the top of the blue-chip index, up 90p at 2402p.
Oil and gas specialist BG Group slipped after news of a commercial well at its Carioca field in Brazil. Partner Petrobras’s estimation of the viability of the well was below expectations so BG slipped 12.5p to 1244.75p.
Hugely disappointing news for defence group BAE Systems after the market closed last night was followed by a share price nosedive today. It said talks for two big Middle East jet fighter contracts had collapsed or stalled and it plunged 21.4p to 420.6p.
New planning proposals from Labour to constrain the betting industry were bad news for bookies and William Hill lost 5.5p to 385.75p and on the FTSE 250, Ladbrokes eased 0.8p to 172.2p. Small-cap Paddy Power was 24 cents weaker at €61.25.
AIM-listed Densitron Technologies warned that it will report a loss for the current year and collapsed 2.25p to 5.25p.
US-focused explorer Empyrean Energy reported a 3,512% increase in net profits to £2.4 million and gushed 0.25p to 7.37p.
