Intertek Group Share News (ITRK)

The FTSE 100 opened flat on Friday morning as investors showed caution following some mixed comments from US politicians regarding the 'fiscal cliff'.Markus Huber, head of German HNW trading at ETX Capital, said: "European equities are trading little changed this morning despite less encouraging news out of Washington where a deal put to the Republicans by the Democrats received a frosty reception and showed that the parties might actually be further apart than many had hoped." He said that this leaves"a big question mark if a deal will be reached soon."In spite of saying on Wednesday that he was "optimistic" about a deal being made on the 'fiscal cliff', US Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner quashed hopes yesterday by saying that "there is a real danger of going off the fiscal cliff" unless Democrats "get serious about real spending cuts".ETX Capital's Huber said: "The lack of a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff not only poses problems to US businesses [...] but also traders and investors alike are finding it more difficult dealing with the ongoing wrangling as quick shifts in sentiment [...] can lead to erratic short-term moves, which in turn is keeping more and more traders on the sidelines until the situation what the fiscal cliff is concerned is becoming clearer." In domestic news, UK consumer confidence measured by GfK surged to an 18-month high in November, rising to -22 from -30 the month before. Consensus estimates were for no change. There's plenty of other economic data for investors to digest today, including: Eurozone unemployment rate figures; Eurozone inflation; Canadian GDP and US personal consumption expenditure. Meanwhile, today will also see the German parliament vote on the latest Greek rescue package. Kingfisher falls after broker downgradeB&Q owner Kingfisher was a heavy faller this morning after UBS cut its rating on the stock to 'neutral' and reduced its target price from 300p to 290p following yesterday's third-quarter results. The company reported that third-quarter revenue was up 0.8% at constant currency to £2.7bn. In contrast, water supplier Pennon was higher after Citigroup upgraded the shares to 'neutral' and quality and safety testing group Intertek rose after Berenberg upped to stock to 'buy' and raised its target price from 2,710p to 3,340p.Mining giant Rio Tinto was on the rise after Jefferies recommended to buy the stock, saying that the group can deliver around 40% earnings per share growth from 2012 to 2015 "even if commodity prices do not increase from average 2012 levels as significant volume growth and cost cutting should lead to better unit margins and higher overall profitability for the company."Sector peers ENRC, Polymetal, Kazakhmys and Vedanta were also in demand after industrial production figures from Japan beat forecasts overnight and the Japanese government approved a $10.7bn stimulus package.Real estate investment group British Land gained after letting 24,392 square foot of office space at its new West End development at 10 Portman Square.Coal and coke producer New World Resources jumped despite announcing that a 23-year-old worker died at its CSM Mine in the Czech Republic yesterday.FTSE 100 - RisersIntertek Group (ITRK) 3,116.00p +1.86%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,428.00p +1.68%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,060.00p +1.15%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 726.50p +1.04%Whitbread (WTB) 2,400.00p +0.93%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,896.00p +0.90%Glencore International (GLEN) 345.20p +0.86%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 277.00p +0.80%Xstrata (XTA) 1,031.50p +0.78%IMI (IMI) 1,048.00p +0.77%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 294.10p -1.64%Kingfisher (KGF) 275.20p -1.36%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 764.50p -0.91%BT Group (BT.A) 231.70p -0.77%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 745.00p -0.73%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,342.00p -0.67%Centrica (CNA) 326.00p -0.64%SSE (SSE) 1,427.00p -0.63%Old Mutual (OML) 170.10p -0.58%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 46.40p -0.53%FTSE 250 - RisersNew World Resources A Shares (NWR) 273.50p +4.35%Soco International (SIA) 367.40p +3.09%Man Group (EMG) 78.50p +2.55%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 26.35p +2.29%Rank Group (RNK) 147.30p +2.29%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 60.60p +2.28%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 365.80p +1.89%Bellway (BWY) 1,005.00p +1.77%Invensys (ISYS) 310.30p +1.74%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 591.00p +1.72%FTSE 250 - FallersStobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 100.10p -2.91%Perform Group (PER) 380.70p -2.18%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 363.67p -1.69%CSR (CSR) 358.80p -1.67%Ruspetro (RPO) 84.65p -1.57%Playtech Ltd. (PTEC) 416.80p -1.51%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 753.50p -1.50%Shanks Group (SKS) 79.70p -1.48%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 75.75p -1.37%Savills (SVS) 450.00p -1.19%BC