FTSE hits four year high

Cruise giant Carnival ensured the FTSE 100 Index sailed to a new four-high today by posting record profits for the summer season.

Shares in Carnival advanced 3% or 75p to 2983p after its third-quarter results drew applause in the City during the afternoon, offsetting fears over the impact of high oil prices on powering its fleet next year.

Its results steadied the nerves of investors, who might have been frightened by Wall Street opening in the red, and helped the Footsie to close 21.8 points higher at 5429.7.

Two of the newcomers to the top flight also contributed to its progress, with poker giant PartyGaming up 1.5p to 110.5p and oil and gas explorer Cairn Energy ahead by 2% or 34p at 1914p.

Both companies benefited from the fact that managers of funds that track the progress of the FTSE 100 Index were forced to pad out their portfolios with their stock.

Consumer goods giant Unilever was buoyed by speculation it was planning to end its 75-year-old dual stock market listing, with shares in the Anglo-Dutch firm rising nearly 2% or 9.5p to 586p.

Takeover activity was also creating a buzz as investors cheered Deutsche Post’s cash-and-share offer for Bracknell-based logistics firm Exel, which values the UK company at £3.7bn (€5.5bn). Exel shares jumped another 5p to 1233p, just short of the offer price of 1244p.

Other big climbers today included building materials group Wolseley, which advanced 19p to 1197p, followed by mining group Xstrata, up 15p to 1439p.

Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline cheered 18p to 1380p after its Bonviva drug for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis was approved for sale in the European Union. Also rising in the sector was AstraZeneca – up 12p at 2637p.

However, Argos group GUS headed lower as broker UBS downgraded its rating on the stock to “neutral” from “buy”. GUS was the fourth heaviest Footsie faller, weakening 12.5p to 874p.

Supermarket group Morrisons was also in negative territory as investors digested a report it was considering making its recently appointed senior non-executive director Paul Manduca deputy chairman, in place of David Jones, the chairman of Next. Shares lost 0.75p to 182.25p.

In the second-tier, investors warmed to IT firm LogicaCMG’s announcement of a £630.6m (€935m) offer for French group Unilog. Logica cheered 4% or 6p to 174p - recovering from heavy losses on Friday even though it proposed an offering of around £389m (€577m) in new shares to fund the deal.

Discount retailer Peacock was also upbeat after it revealed its mystery suitor had put a price tag of around £404 million on the group. Shares advanced 9p to 324p.

The highest Footsie risers today were BG Group up 16.5p to 539p, Carnival adding 75p to 2983p, Cairn Energy up 34p to 1914p and BP adding 11.5p to 665p.

The heaviest fallers were Vodafone down 2.75p to 151.5p, British Airways off 5.25p to 291p, William Hill losing 9p to 596p and GUS down 12.5p to 874p.