Markets close in positive terrority

With uncertainty over war with Iraq firmly out of the way, the markets have continued a spectacular rally to close the week in positive territory.

The DJIA had gained 5.43% since last week, and closed Thursday’s session at 8286.8. The Nasdaq closed at 1402.77, a 4.66% rally from last Friday. Midway through Friday’s session, the FTSE 100 was at 3848.5, 6.85% higher than last week.

Much of the bullish sentiment comes from an expectation of a short war. The situation is also helped by news that the initial efforts by the troops have met with success and that key strategic cities are now under the control of the allied troops.

However, despite the rally, many investors are still taking a back seat, waiting to see how matters pan out. News from the corporate tech sech sector on Wednesday that software giant Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) saw lower than expected Q3 sales slightly dented the rally, but was not strong enough to prevent the tech laced Nasdaq from reascending above the 1,400-point barrier.

In London, the rally was also due to hopes of a quick war in Iraq. However, the mood on the market still remains somewhat cautious. On the corporate front, shares of accounting software company,

Sage (SGE.L) fell sharply following a massive sell off by one of its founders. On the economic front, UK retail sales fell by 0.1% to a three-and-a-half year low in February, creating concerns on consumer confidence.

Irish security solutions company, Baltimore Technologies (BLM.L) saw its losses drop during the year ended 31st December due to its restructuring efforts in past months. The company cut its losses before tax to STG65.3 million, down from STG£659m for the previous year. It achieved this through rigorous cost cuts and operating expenses overall were down 77% year on year. It reduced its number of employees by 600 and now employs 295.

Baltimore shares rose by 4.2% during the week to 25p.

Travel software company Datalex announced that it was facing a USD$27m lawsuit in California. It concerns a dispute over a contract made in March 2000 between Datalex and travel services company PSA Inc.

Datalex had alleged that PSA was in breach of a contract made in March 2000 under which Datalex was to deliver and license its booking engine software to PSA. Its US OTC traded shares fell by 13.1 percent during the week to 79 cents.