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London close: Footsie battered again

Fri, 18th May 2012 16:53

Footsie finished not far off its low for the day after a lunch-time rally fizzled out. With speculation rife in Spain that a ban on short-selling stocks might be reintroduced, holders of stock in UK banks Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays could be forgiven that might not be such a bad idea for the UK to adopt. The banks got a fearful hammering on continued worries over the future of the Eurozone and as the credit agencies weigh in with more ratings cuts.Ratings agency Fitch cut Greece's rating on Thursday to 'CCC' from 'B-' in order to reflect the heightened risk that the country may not be able to sustain its membership in the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Fitch added that should the new election scheduled for June 17th fail to produce a government that is committed to the EU/IMF bailout agreement then Greece's exit from the Eurozone would be "probable".Meanwhile, as expected, rival debt ratings agency Moody's has downgraded its ratings on 16 Spanish banks plus Santander's British division, Santander UK.Miners were under a cloud after Goldman Sachs lowered its forecast for second quarter growth in China's gross domestic product (GDP) to 7.9% from 8.5% previously. The US investment bank has also pared its full year forecast for Chinese GDP growth to 8.1% from 8.6%.Having said that, Fresnillo, Antofagasta and Polymetal, all of which have gold mines, defied the trend, as the price of precious metals were driven higher by nervous investors. The June futures contract for gold was trading $17.60 higher at $1,592.50 an ounce at the end of the morning session in New York, while the most commonly traded contract for silver was up 70 cents at $28.725 an ounce.Fashion chain Burberry, which counts China as a major customer, was also hit by the change in the Goldman Sachs forecast. The retailer and wholesaler is set to release full year results next week.LeadersIn the mid-tier, revenue and profits at bourse operator London Stock Exchange came in ahead of expectations, with the group boasting of strong performances across all four of its business divisions.Bus and train group FirstGroup was wanted ahead of results next Wednesday. Broker Charles Stanley reiterated its "hold" recommendation, as it reckons the price is unlikely to pick up before a rights issue or a change in dividend policy, or both. The earliest that can happen, in Charles Stanley's view, is November 2013.Sector peer Stagecoach also made progress after it snapped up some US assets from bankruptcy candidate Coach America.Shares in PV Crystalox Solar, a solar wafers supplier, rocketed after the firm reached a cash settlement relating to a terminated wafer supply contract that exceeded its market cap.LaggardsTechnical issues threw a spanner into the works resulting in production declining quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of 2012 at Heritage Oil, but that did not stop the group celebrating a successful test drilling in Kurdistan. The independent upstream exploration and production company said the Miran West-3 well in Kurdistan was successfully tested and is now being suspended pending completion as a production well.It might be best not to mention the UK drought to SIG, the building products distributor, which has seen sales in the group's roofing business disrupted by heavy rains this year.Meanwhile, "wet" sales have gone ex-growth in recent weeks at pubs operator Mitchells & Butlers (M&B), but fortunately food sales have picked up the slack. Like-for-like sales were up 2.7% in the 28 weeks to April 7th, with food sales up 3.4% and drink sales up 2.2%, but in the final 11 weeks of that period drink sales were down 0.8% in a year earlier.Panmure Gordon responded to the interim update from M&B by trimming its full year forecast for profit before tax to £169m (30.9p earnings per share) and consequently reduced its price target from 240p to 225p, while maintaining a "sell" recommendation.Hansteen Holdings, the UK and Europe focused real estate investment trust (REIT), warned it faces currency headwinds as the debt crisis weakens the euro. The firm says occupational demand in Germany is "robust", and in the UK it is "stable but competitive" but in Benelux "the market continues to be difficult."Other marketsWith equities once again baling out of equities, gilt prices tended firmer. The yield on the benchmark 10-year gilt hardened to 1.82%, up from 1.81% the day before. Gilt yields move inversely to prices.Sterling held its own against the greenback at around the $1.5790 level. FTSE 100 - RisersPolymetal International (POLY) 799.00p +2.83%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,358.00p +2.11%CRH (CRH) 1,104.00p +2.03%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 271.20p +1.01%Centrica (CNA) 315.00p +0.99%BG Group (BG.) 1,245.50p +0.97%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,035.00p +0.88%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,894.00p +0.80%BT Group (BT.A) 204.00p +0.74%Sage Group (SGE) 249.30p +0.56%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 25.95p -6.15%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 19.99p -5.08%Xstrata (XTA) 914.70p -4.34%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,373.00p -4.19%Man Group (EMG) 75.30p -4.14%ITV (ITV) 78.85p -3.72%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 241.10p -3.68%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 457.90p -3.38%Schroders (SDR) 1,174.00p -3.29%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 975.00p -3.27%FTSE 250 - RisersKesa Electricals (KESA) 48.50p +3.72%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 221.90p +3.50%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 145.10p +3.35%FirstGroup (FGP) 200.80p +3.29%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,131.00p +3.01%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 630.00p +2.86%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 992.00p +2.85%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 34.50p +2.53%Cape (CIU) 322.10p +2.48%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 43.50p +2.35%FTSE 250 - FallersBwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 124.50p -7.57%Home Retail Group (HOME) 74.60p -6.16%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 231.00p -6.10%Ashtead Group (AHT) 215.00p -5.99%Lamprell (LAM) 121.00p -5.84%Ocado Group (OCDO) 108.30p -5.41%Cookson Group (CKSN) 645.50p -4.93%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 531.50p -4.75%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,855.00p -4.55%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,469.00p -4.49%FTSE TechMARK - RisersAsterand (ATD) 1.38p +10.00%Hiwave Technologies (HIW) 2.70p +8.00%FTSE TechMARK - FallersFiltronic (FTC) 21.25p -15.00%Promethean World (PRW) 46.00p -6.12%Skyepharma (SKP) 68.50p -4.20%Xaar (XAR) 214.00p -3.82%Gresham Computing (GHT) 57.50p -3.36%JH
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Broker tips: BSkyB, PV Crystalox, Antisoma

Broker UBS thinks the share price of pay TV operator British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) has been buoyed by hopes of a bid from majority shareholder News Corporation, an event which the broker thinks is unlikely to happen. 'Although it cannot be ruled out, we would question the timing and rationale fo

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29 Mar 2010 13:14

Broker snap: PV Crystalox unjustly overshadowed

Solar panel silicon wafer maker PV Crystalox Solar (PVC) has seen its share price more than halve since May 2009 and Nomura Securities thinks the decline has gone too far. 'We reiterate our Buy rating as we see the stock as undervalued vs its peers given that we see upside from strong markets and a

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25 Mar 2010 07:53

PV Crystalox chops divi

PV Crystalox Solar, which makes the silicon wafers used in solar power systems, saw adjusted earnings more than halve in 2009 as the company was hit by a price squeeze. Total wafer shipment volumes in 2009 were 4% higher than in 2008 at 239 megawatts (mw) but with prices slumping in the second half

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10 Mar 2010 14:25

Sector movers: Melrose lifts engineering sector

Strong results from Melrose help lift the industrial engineering sector higher. Engineering conglomerate Melrose said the acquisition of FKI is working out better than expected for thee, helping it lift headline profits rise by almost two-thirds in 2009. Revenue advanced to £1,298.5m from £895.3m

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15 Jan 2010 16:39

London close: Footsie follows US lower

Footsie finished the week on a low as a poor performance in the US dragged the leading share index down in afternoon trading. US shares fell after consumer confidence rose less than expected in January. Here, Man Group was the heaviest faller after the hedge fund manager suffered a 4% drop in fund

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15 Jan 2010 14:27

London afternoon: Flat Footsie

The blue-chip index is treading water, though there has been some keen interest in the day's big results announcements. Man Group is sharply lower after the hedge fund manager suffered a 4% drop in funds under management during the third quarter, mainly due to the $1.2bn pulled out of its flagship

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12 Jan 2010 06:36

Tuesday tips round-up; Wolseley, BHP Billiton, Centamin

Ireland was not the biggest bet in Wolseley's decade-long multibillion-pound global acquisition spree, but the building-material distributor's exit from the country provides one of the starkest examples of how its ambitions have changed. Only five years ago, Wolseley paid €183m alone for Brooks, on

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11 Jan 2010 07:29

PV Crystalox trading in line

PV Crystalox Solar, the solar panel silicon wafer maker, said trading in the last six weeks of 2009 was in line with management expectations. Wafer shipments for the whole of 2009 were marginally above the guidance of 230-235 megawatts indicated in the November trading update, reflecting the impact

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19 Nov 2009 09:57

PV Crystalox Solar on track

PV Crystalox Solar, the maker of silicon wafers that are used in solar panels, said its full-year performance continues to be in line with expectations.? The group said the photovoltaic (PV) market is benefiting from improving demand driven by incentive programmes in Japan and in particular in Germ

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26 Sep 2009 22:41

The Fundamentalist: PV Crystalox Solar

It's rare for a growth stock to also be a value stock so my eye was caught by PV Crystalox Solar, the maker of silicon wafers that are used in solar panels, which scores close to five out of five on Digital Look's Star Rating system for both Value and Growth. An examination of the company's interim

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21 Aug 2009 11:10

FTSE 250 movers: Wellstream recovers some losses

Shares in Wellstream Holdings have recovered slightly after falling sharply yesterday when the pipeline products maker for the oil and gas industry reported a slide in half-year profits. Silicon wafers supplier PV Crystalox Solar, which said on Wednesday it is confident of a "robust" performance in

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19 Aug 2009 17:14

London close: Late rally leaves Footsie little changed

Share prices of London's leading stocks closed mixed, thanks to a late rally, after the market had spent most of the day in retreat. ENRC was the day's star performer despite reporting a 63% slide in pre-tax profits for the first half of 2009. The dividend has been cut in half but investors were e

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19 Aug 2009 14:14

London afternoon: Lloyds provides some cheer

The bears are back in command today with the blue-chip index in the red, though the size of the decline has been exacerbated by a number of index constituents trading in ex-dividend form. Former Bank of Ireland governor Richard Burrows is to be the new chairman of Lucky Strike maker British Americ

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19 Aug 2009 11:54

London midday: Shares stable at lower levels

Equities are back on the slide again today with little hope of a boost from the other side of the Atlantic where the Dow Jones 30 is expected to open around 80 points lower. ENRC is a bright spot despite reporting a 63% slide in pre-tax profits for the first half of 2009. The dividend has been cut

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19 Aug 2009 11:35

FTSE 250 movers: 'Robust' performance lifts PV Crystalox

Silicon wafers supplier PV Crystalox Solar is higher after saying it is confident of a "robust" performance in the second half despite reporting a 57% slump in earnings for the first six months of 2009. James Fisher is buoyant again after the marine services group yesterday said it has bought MB Fa

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