Bellway unmoved by London selection
The ftse 100 Index lost ground yesterday as it neared the significant 6000 point mark, ending a three day winning run.
The major winners and losers came from a wide range of industrial sectors and the headline index fell 10.5 points to end the week at 5960.8.
In The Journal 40, the house building sector was again in focus as Bellway was selected to be the first residential developer to build apartments at Greenwich Peninsula in London, a £5bn regeneration project to develop 80 hectares of land over the next 15 years.
Bellway will build 229 riverside apartments on the southern part of the site and anticipates starting on site next year.
The shares were unchanged on the announcement and closed at 1288p.
After its results on Wednesday, Barratt Developments received another endorsement when Merrill Lynch, the US investment bank, reiterated its buy rating on the shares with a price target of 1250p.
The shares built on gains earlier in the week, adding a further 5p to finish the session at 1066p.
Biofuels was the leading performer in the regional portfolio, rising by 7.3%.
However, the shares had fallen by over 30% since Wednesday when the company announced that it was temporarily delaying deliveries of biodiesel and traders attributed yesterday's gain to a correction in the share price.
The shares closed at 58.5p.
Opsec Security continued its strong run, trading 0.5p higher.
Since the send of July the shares have risen by 51% and ended the week at 66.5p. Shares in Northern Rock, who will issue a trading update next Monday, remain near their all time high despite losing 16p yesterday and closed at 1168p.
Fergus Westwood is an Assistant Director of the Wise Speke division of Brewin Dolphin Securities Ltd.
