- Aberdeen leads financials higher after SWIP purchase- Petrofac plummets on cautious outlook- Fed speculation ramps up ahead of FOMC minutestechMARK 2,653.19 +0.15%FTSE 100 6,723.46 +0.45%FTSE 250 15,290.48 +0.29%UK markets posted decent gains on Monday with the financial sectors providing a lift after a strong surge by Aberdeen, which helped to offset a record decline by oilfield services group Petrofac. "After an initially slow start European markets finally threw off some of their caution and pushed higher, playing catch up with Friday's US move [...] helped in no small part by a solid performance from financial stocks," said Chief Market Strategist Michael Hewson from CMC Markets.The FTSE 100 finished up 30.02 points at 6,723.46, a rise of 0.45% on the day.With the economic data calendar looking pretty light over the next two days, investors are likely to turn most of their attention to the minutes of October's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting due to be released on Wednesday.Although few are still expecting the Fed to begin scaling back its asset purchase programme this year - especially after Fed Chair nominee Janet Yellen's dovish comments last week - markets are still on the lookout for hints of a potential 'taper' timeframe.Markets in the States were extending recent gains after the opening bell on Wall Street with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 surpassing their milestone intraday levels of 16,000 and 1,800 for the first time, respectively. A strong performance on the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong overnight was also helping market sentiment today as investors enthusiastically welcomed a sweeping package of Chinese economic reforms. Beijing outlined the biggest restructuring of its economy in decades, saying that the government would open the financial sector and relax investment restrictions. Aberdeen boosts financials; Petrofac plungesAberdeen surged nearly 15% today after saying that it would acquire Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Group from Lloyds. The company also reported annual pre-tax profit jumped 39% on net revenue up 24%, as it raised its full-year dividend by 39% to 16p per share. Lloyds was also higher following its disposal, along with banking peers Standard Chartered, RBS, Barclays and HSBC.Heading the other way was Petrofac which registered its worst daily loss in history (-16.6%) after saying that net income in 2014 would show "flat to modest growth year-on-year". The company also said that targets for 2015 were dependent on the timing of certain contracts. Outsourcing group Capita was in the red after announcing that Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Paul Pindar has called it quits after 26 years with the firm. Severn Trent was also lower after saying that CEO Tony Wray would retire next year and be replaced by the current head of BT's Openreach operations.Vedanta was also higher, rebounding after some heavy falls following its first-half report released the previous session. Credit Suisse cut its target price for the shares this morning but kept an 'outperform' rating, saying that it remains an "attractive structural story".The share price of AVEVA was sharply lower despite a broadly in-line set of first-half results with revenues up 11% and profits up 6%. Panmure Gordon maintained its 'hold' rating for the engineering software firm, saying that the shares are still too expensive which "is likely to make any new buying muted".FTSE 100 - RisersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 489.70p +14.74%Vedanta Resources (VED) 988.50p +3.45%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,482.00p +1.79%ARM Holdings (ARM) 959.50p +1.64%GKN (GKN) 372.80p +1.39%Vodafone Group (VOD) 234.35p +1.30%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,782.00p +1.25%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,495.00p +1.22%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,331.00p +1.22%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 3,049.00p +1.19%FTSE 100 - FallersPetrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,200.00p -16.61%Fresnillo (FRES) 915.50p -2.76%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,532.00p -1.18%CRH (CRH) 1,574.00p -1.07%Carnival (CCL) 2,251.00p -0.92%Sage Group (SGE) 345.70p -0.86%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,273.00p -0.86%Land Securities Group (LAND) 969.50p -0.82%Pearson (PSON) 1,328.00p -0.75%SSE (SSE) 1,389.00p -0.71%FTSE 250 - RisersImagination Technologies Group (IMG) 255.80p +6.54%Synthomer (SYNT) 236.50p +4.79%Ocado Group (OCDO) 439.80p +2.90%esure Group (ESUR) 233.10p +2.69%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,158.00p +2.66%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 320.80p +2.43%Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 2,321.00p +2.25%Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 528.50p +2.22%BTG (BTG) 443.10p +2.21%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 105.60p +2.13%FTSE 250 - FallersAveva Group (AVV) 2,365.00p -7.83%Essar Energy (ESSR) 100.00p -5.12%Homeserve (HSV) 244.10p -3.10%Devro (DVO) 305.60p -2.98%Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,078.00p -2.80%Spirent Communications (SPT) 107.90p -2.79%Partnership Assurance Group (PA.) 316.50p -2.62%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 50.40p -2.51%Perform Group (PER) 425.00p -2.46%Lonmin (LMI) 332.30p -2.38%BC
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