FTSE on the up
Strong figures from blue-chip heavyweights Barclays and Vodafone fuelled a further rally on the London market today.
The Footsie rose 48.6 points to 5898.6 - up nearly 1% - thanks to positive updates from the corporate giants, while embattled Rolls-Royce continued its bounce back following recent hefty falls seen after last week's engine failure on a Qantas superjumbo.
The group's rebound was boosted by news that Rolls-Royce had won an order in China worth $1.2bn (€859.7m), with shares rising a further 11.5p to 618.5p.
Rolls-Royce was 3% higher last night after it released a statement saying it was close to finding the cause of its engine failure that caused the Qantas flight to make an emergency landing.
Banking giant Barclays was also prominent on the risers board, up 3% or 8.1p to 293.7p, after better-than-expected third quarter results as lower bad debts helped it offset a fall in profits at its investment banking division.
Comments from the bank also appeared to ease concerns that it will have to raise additional capital due to new regulatory requirements.
Mobile phone group Vodafone saw its shares lift 15p to 176p, a rise of nearly 1%, after it upgraded its full-year earnings guidance due to revenues growth across all its regions.
The firm also set out its strategy for capitalising on booming consumer demand for smartphones.
In a busy day for corporate results, Marks & Spencer shares dropped more than 1%, or 4.9p to 408.3p, after investors were underwhelmed by recently appointed chief executive Marc Bolland's strategy of "evolution not revolution".
This overshadowed the retail chain's 17% rise in half-year profits to £348.6m (€403.8m) for the 26 weeks to October 2.
Primark owner Associated British Foods, which also published results today, recovered from earlier falls to stand 6p higher at 1079p.
Pre-tax profits in the year to September rose 26% on an underlying basis to £825m (€955.7m) - beating analyst expectations.
However, AB Foods reiterated that it expects tighter margins at its discount clothing chain Primark next year due to higher costs and increased VAT.
Under-pressure fund manager Gartmore steadied in the FTSE 250 Index, up 1.4p to 108.4p following a 15% tumble yesterday on news of another departure of one of its star managers.
It was Yell's turn to lead the falls in the second tier today after disappointing half-year results, which led to broker downgrades.
Shares in the directories group plunged more than 17%, down 2.8p to 12.8p.
