FTSE off to positive start

A raft of broker upgrades helped power the FTSE 100 Index today, building on market cheer from yesterday’s Bank of England interest rate decision.

The London market set fresh six-year highs, up 37 points at 6383.4 by mid-morning, as the flurry of heavyweight corporate results out yesterday and the no-change vote for the UK base rate sunk in.

Aerospace giant Rolls-Royce led the Footsie risers board after a broker upgrade from Societe General on the back of results showing a better-than-expected 19% rise in underlying pre-tax profits to £705m (€1.05bn). The group’s shares were up 3%, or 12.5p, at 500p.

Upgrades provided a fillip to most of the firms on the day’s leaders board, including GlaxoSmithKline, up 33p at 1455p, household cleaning group Reckitt Benckiser up 34p to 2629p and BG Group, which rose 14.5p to 739.5p thanks to the upgrade after posting strong annual results.

Higher oil prices, which increased above $60 a barrel earlier today, lifted the energy sector for a while but Royal Dutch Shell later gave away some of the gains to sit just 1p higher at 1711p.

Broker updates were also responsible for a number of falling stocks in the top flight.

Medical devices firm Smith & Nephew lost its post at the top of the risers board yesterday after a downgrade from UBS despite its strong results yesterday and promises to enhance margins. Shares were off 5.5p at 607.5p.

Vodafone also suffered a downgrade from Credit Suisse, with shares down 1.25p at 149.5p.

On a quiet day for corporate news, FirstGroup stole the headlines after announcing plans to buy US Greyhound owner Laidlaw in a deal worth £1.9bn (€3bn). The move caused shares in the UK group to rally 34p to 595p.