City news
A sparkling performance by Marks & Spencer cheered the London market today after it posted its largest profits haul for nine years.
Shares in the high street giant lifted 3% as investors welcomed the 32% rise in first half profits to £405.1 million.
It offset disappointment in figures from Associated British Foods and Yell as the FTSE 100 Index moved 9.6 points higher to 6234.1 in the first hour of trading.
M&S was the biggest blue-chip riser with a gain of 20p to 676.5p as investors dared to believe full-year profits could top £1 billion amid a raft of upgrades by brokers. Shareholders were also buoyed by a 31% rise in interim dividend payments.
M&S was followed up the Footsie leaderboard by oil firm BP as the price of crude held steady at around 60 US dollars a barrel in New York. BP shares lifted 6p to 603p.
But AB Foods fared less well with a fall of 3% or 24.5p to 826.5p after it posted declining profits amid difficult trading conditions at British Sugar and Kingsmill.
And shares in Yellow Pages owner Yell Group fell almost 6% - down 35p to 590p - after its profits for the first half of the year came in below expectations.
