Two-month high for FTSE

London’s top shares raced to a two-month high today as one of the busiest days in the corporate diary drew plenty of buying interest.

Rolls-Royce, Smith & Nephew and Royal Dutch Shell were among heavyweight shares on the front foot after announcing strong results performances.

As a result the FTSE 100 Index extended its strong run in the week so far to finish the day at 5929.5 – a gain of 52.4 points – following yesterday’s 14.1 point lift. The market is now poised to stand above 6000 points for the first time since April.

Shares in Shell lifted more than 2% as investors welcomed a 36% hike in second quarter earnings of $6.3bn (€4.9bn) – or £1.6m (€2.3m) an hour.

Shell was boosted by record oil prices which have been pushed higher by political tensions in the Middle East. Shares in Shell gained 41p to 1981p today while rival BP, which posted figures on Tuesday, was up 14p to 648.5p.

Rolls-Royce followed suit after lifting its half-year dividend by 10% in the wake of a 12% rise in underlying profits. With the company’s order book also increasing to £25.1bn (€36.7), shares were 21.25p higher at 442.75p.

Medical devices group Smith & Nephew topped the blue-chip leaderboard – up 30.75p at 462.75p – after confirming previous full-year guidance with a first half rise in profits to $267m (€210m).

B&Q owner Kingfisher also made impressive gains of 8.25p to 244.75p, or 3%, after it raised hopes of a long-awaited sales revival.

British Gas owner Centrica crept 0.25p higher to 292.75p as investors weighed up the impact of today’s 12.4% increase in household gas bills.

But it was not all good news as shares in pharmaceuticals group AstraZeneca fell 3% in the wake of its second quarter results announcement.

While pre-tax profits were up 26%, investors took the opportunity to take profits after shares rose earlier in the week on the back of US regulatory approval for its Symbicort asthma treatment. Astra slipped 111p to 3209p, while GlaxoSmithKline was down 22p at 1485p.

There was also bad news for investors in music firm EMI Group, which finished the day 0.75p lower at 261p after it shelved plans to pursue a £1.35bn (€2bn) tkeover of US counterpart Warner Music.

Bradford & Bingley was another second-tier faller, off 13.75p at 449p, after revealing it would take an additional £89.4m (€131m) charge to cover potential claims for the mis-selling of endowment and investment products.

And Carphone Warehouse languished at 271.75p – down 13.75p – despite reporting it had signed up 476,000 broadband customers in April, with one analyst suggesting investors were “profit taking”.

But Vietnamese oil firm Soco provided some cheer in the lower ranks as it rose 81p to 1375p after Merrill Lynch declared the firm “under-appreciated” with high impact exploration potential.

The day’s biggest risers were Smith & Nephew up 30.75p at 462.75p, Kazakhmys up 76p to 1261p, Sage up 13p at 230p and Xstrata up 107p to 2141p.

Stocks taking the biggest tumble were AstraZeneca down 111p to 3209p, Reckitt Benckiser down 47p at 2108p, Northern Rock down 21.5p to 1106.5p and GlaxoSmithKline down 22p at 1485p.