FTSE rebounds after two days of losses with housebuilders on the rise
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Version 0 of 1. After two days of decline and negativity, markets recovered some ground, helped by bargain hunting in some of the stocks hardest hit during this week's downturn. Housebuilders were boosted by a positive note on the sector by Deutsche Bank, with Barratt Developments 14.7p better at 395.9p, Persimmon putting on 40p to £13.20, Taylor Wimpey adding 4p to 113.3p and Bovis Homes rising 15p to 851p. The bank said: Technology shares - under pressure in recent days as investors decided sky-high valuations may be flying a little too close to the sun - also rebounded. Arm added 44.5p to £10.29 and fellow chip designer Imagination Technologies rose 12.2p to 208p. Just Eat jumped 9p to 259p, Asos rose 118p to £47.74 and AO World edged up 2.5p to 282.5p. Overall as Asian markets (with the exception of Japan) moved higher overnight and Wall Street climbed in early trading ahead of the latest Federal Reserve minutes, the FTSE 100 finished 44.92 points higher at 6635.61. Standard Chartered climbed 36.5p to £13.27 as Investec issued a buy note. Analyst Ian Gordon said: Tullow Oil rose 30.5p to 850p as the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation said the Jubilee field - where Tullow holds a 35.5% stake - could produce more oil than the budgeted 100,000 barrels per day. The corporation said the average production as of March 25 was 104,000 barrels and this could hit 105,000 to 110,000 in 2014. Among the other FTSE 100 risers Kingfisher climbed 14.1p to 436.4p after analysts at UBS moved from neutral to buy and raised their price target from 440p to 475p in the wake of the company's plans to buy Frances Mr Bricolage. Rolls-Royce rose 15p to £10.69 after it won a $100m contract to service US Navy trainer aircraft engines. Meanwhile Andy Chambers at Cantor Fitzgerald issued a buy note on the business: Mining shares slipped back as copper prices fell ahead of Chinese trade and new loans data. Antofagasta fell 22.5p to 848p, and Anglo American was 19p lower at £15.58. Motor insurers went into reverse after a downbeat survey of the sector from Confused/Towers Watson. The index showed the cost of personal motor insurance had dropped in the first quarter after signs that rates might have stabilised in the previous three months. The news sent esure - which also went ex-dividend - 23.7p lower to 244p and Direct Line down 5.4p to 233.4p. But Admiral recovered from earlier falls to end 9p higher at £13.92. Also quoted without its dividend was Standard Life, down 3.7p to 381.8p. Among the mid-caps Carillion climbed 19p to 379.4p after a positive note from Cantor Fitzgerald. But online gaming group Bwin.Party Digital dropped 1.1p to 123.9p after revealing an 8% year on year fall in revenues in the first quarter. But revenues rose 1% compared to the previous three months. The company also announced ex-Diageo and 3i executive Philip Yea as its new chairman, who will succeed Simon Duffy next month. In a buy note analysts at Numis said: However Jason Ader of SpringOwl said: |