Aberdeen Asset Management was a high riser in London on Monday, providing a lift to the financial sectors as investors celebrated the company's annual results and acquisition of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP).The fund management group said that it would buy SWIP from Lloyds for £550m and form a long-term strategic partnership with the bank for the distribution of funds across its Wealth, Insurance, Commercial Banking and Retail businesses.The consideration will be satisfied by the issue of 131.8m new Aberdeen shares to Lloyds, equivalent to a 9.9% stake.Aberdeen said that the acquisition adds "breadth and depth" to its existing product offering and "enhances its position as a leading independent global asset manager".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.Michael Hewson, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets, said that Aberdeen gave financials a boost this afternoon with banking stocks in particular "enjoy[ing] some of their best gains in days, rebounding after three successive weeks of losses with the best performers being Standard Chartered and RBS".HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays were also putting in decent gains today.Heading the other way was the oil services sector which dropped sharply after heavyweight constituent Petrofac gave a cautious outlook for the next two years.Petrofac's share price was down 16.6% before the close of trade at 1,200p after the company predicted "flat to modest growth" in net income next year. The company, which designs, builds and operates oil and gas infrastructure, said the guidance reflects the rephasing of both the Upper Zakum project in Abu Dhabi and the second stage of the Berentai project in Malaysia.Meanwhile, it also said that targets for 2015 were dependent on the timing of certain contracts during 2014.Others in the sector including John Wood Group, Lamprell and Hunting were also trading in the red.Top performing sectors so far todayFinancial Services 7,446.89 +1.58%Technology Hardware & Equipment 1,120.76 +1.39%Personal Goods 24,037.86 +1.20%Banks 4,907.94 +1.16%Automobiles & Parts 8,692.93 +1.11%Bottom performing sectors so far todayOil Equipment, Services & Distribution 23,256.74 -5.74%Software & Computer Services 1,107.76 -1.26%Construction & Materials 4,305.35 -0.85%Electricity 9,016.74 -0.42%Real Estate Investment Trusts 2,533.28 -0.40%BC
Last checked at 
