London close:Equities advance on broad front

London brought its two day losing streak to an end today, despite a mixed reception to the day's major company announcements and a disappointing set of inflation figures. A sharp rise in fuel costs was responsible for much of the acceleration in the inflation rate, which climbed to 3.4% from 3% in February. Economists had expected the annual inflation rate to advance to 3.1%.Retail stocks dominated the corporate news flow today, with results from Primark owner Associated British Foods proving more to the market's liking than figures from Tesco.The Primark clothing chain was once again the star of the show as Associated British Foods reported better than expected first-half profits. Group pre-tax profit came in at £330m in the 24 weeks ended 27 February compared with £178m last year and better than expectations of around £317m. Tesco reaffirmed its position as the UK's supermarket powerhouse as profits last year surged to nearly £3.2bn with underlying growth of more than 10%. Total sales in the year to end February rose by 6.8% to £62.5bn stripping out petrol. Including fuel, the underlying growth rate rises to 8.5%.Luxury fashion label Burberry expects to post pre-tax profits ahead of expectations for the year to March 31 after shoppers rushed to stock up on fashions for the coming spring and summer. The outfitter famous for the checked pattern displayed on its clothing said sales totalled £327m in the fourth quarter, compared with analysts' estimates of about £310m, taking Burberry's sales for the half year period to £707m.Online fashion store ASOS gave a mixed update. Sales continued to slow in the final weeks of the year to March, though a pick-up in April means it is now more confident over 2010 than previously. Shares in flowers and gifts retailer Flying Brands slumped 26% after it warned that meeting company profit expectations for the year will be a considerable challenge, after continued pressure at its Garden division. Confectionery retailer Thorntons warned it now expects profit before tax and exceptional items to be below previous expectations as a mixture of bad winter weather and increased competition from supermarket hurt sales.Away from retail, lager firm SABMiller's financial performance for the year remains in line with expectations with organic lager volumes level with last year and full year soft drinks volumes up 2%. The group said consumer demand has affected by poor global economic conditions throughout the year although some of the emerging markets showed signs of recovery towards the end of the financial year.Publisher Reed Elsevier said, as expected, it will report a modest reduction in adjusted operating margin in 2010 due to a weak revenue environment and increased investment in legal markets. The group said advertising and promotion and certain other markets remain difficult although the rate of revenue decline is slowing as comparatives get easier.Irish airlines Aer Lingus and Ryanair updated the market on how much they are losing as a result of cancelled flights due to the volcanic ash cloud over Europe. Aer Lingus said it expects the total cash costs for five days of flight disruption to be between €15m and €20m while Ryanair said that it is losing €6m a day.Elsewhere in the sector package tour firm TUI Travel unveiled a £350m convertible bond issue and new £150m overdraft facilities which it said it will use to pursue acquisition opportunities.TUI added that its total cost of the volcanic ash problems had now reached £26m, but trading has remained 'robust' even so, with booking volumes since 15 April 2010 well ahead of the same period in the prior year.Meanwhile UK airports operator BAA said the disruption caused by the volcanic ash is costing it £5-6m each day but added that it will have no "material impact" on finances. BAA is owned by a consortium led by Spanish construction company Ferrovial.Tullow Oil said its Dahoma-1 exploration well in the West Cape Three Points licence only encountered water bearing reservoirs. Angus McCoss, Exploration Director, said: "Dahoma-1 is the first of 12 wells in our deepwater Ghana Exploration and Appraisal campaign not to encounter hydrocarbons." Oil and gas firm Soco International posted record revenues and profits for the year after reporting its first return to full year production since 2007. Pre-tax profit jumped to $93.4m from $37.3m before, demonstrating the impact of a full year's earnings from its two new producing assets in its South East Asia portfolio. Revenue surged to $131m from £55m last year.Wellstream, the oil field services provider, was the top performer among FTSE 250 stocks after UBS upgraded the stock from 'sell' to 'neutral'. Sector peer John Wood Group was also popular after UBS rated it a 'buy', but Petrofac got downgraded to 'neutral' from 'buy' by the Swiss banking group. Royal Bank of Scotland was wanted on hopes that the part-nationalised lender might be able to get some sort of pay-out from Goldman Sachs if the Wall Street bank loses the fraud case brought against it by the Securities and Exchange Commission.In broker action British Gas owner Centrica was in demand after being identified by SocGen as one of the stocks likely to benefit from a devaluation of sterling, while JP Morgan has also been talking up the company after a meeting with the British Gas finance director, Alisdair Cameron.Power generator National Grid was energised by Barclays naming it as one of its top picks in the regulated utilities sector. Temporary power provider Aggreko , meanwhile, shone brightly after signing an agreement with the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDP) for the provision of 200 MW of temporary power.Shares in Irish ingredients and cheese group Glanbia climbed after it said its 54.6% shareholder the Glanbia Co-operative Society has agreed to take its Irish Dairy and Agri Businesses off its hands.Global Petroleum has reached a settlement with Woodside Energy to withdraw legal proceedings, which will see Global and its joint venture partner Dana Petroleum share $12m. Global and Dana had begun legal proceedings against Woodside Energy (Kenya) for not drilling a second exploratory well in a project area, offshore Kenya.Shares in IS Pharma jumped after the speciality drug group said profits for the year to 31 March are expected to be ahead of expectations despite the company's long term focus.Management Consulting Group says that trading conditions remain better so far this year but some projects are taking longer to come through.FTSE 100 - RisersAssociated British Foods (ABF) 1,015.00p +5.89%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 52.70p +4.56%SABMiller (SAB) 1,996.00p +4.50%Cairn Energy (CNE) 419.50p +3.17%Aggreko (AGK) 1,189.00p +3.03%Centrica (CNA) 307.30p +3.02%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 67.22p +2.75%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 92.55p +2.72%Amec (AMEC) 871.00p +2.59%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,220.00p +2.43%FTSE 100 - FallersTesco (TSCO) 431.00p -1.47%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 90.70p -1.04%Burberry Group (BRBY) 695.50p -0.86%Xstrata (XTA) 1,217.00p -0.69%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,115.00p -0.58%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 294.40p -0.44%Schroders NV (SDRC) 1,124.00p -0.27%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 124.70p -0.24%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 748.50p -0.13%