Markets bounce back with a bang

Nov 15 2007 by Chris Knox, The Journal

LONDON markets bounded into positive territory from the start with the FSTE 100 Index soaring 69.7 points to close at 6432.1.

The markets mirrored Wall Street’s overnight advance, following upbeat corporate news from Goldman Sachs, which helped to spur on the banking sector.

In the regional portfolio, shares in Wellstream Holdings were up on the back of news that the company had been awarded a new contract, valued in excess of £40m.

Wellstream, which specialises in the manufacture of flexible pipelines to the oil and gas industry, reached an agreement with Petroleo Brasileiro, to supply the flowlines and risers to the company’s Brazilian offshore development.

Earlier this month Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to “outperform”, with a price target of 1100p, after Wellstream revised its output capacity from the Brazilian plant. Shares in the company ended the session at 975p, up 5p.

D1 Oils was among the region’s strongest performers, with shares in the company climbing 13.5p to close at 147.5p. The Middlesbrough-based company was by no means the only riser of the oil and gas stocks, as gains were seen rippling throughout the sector, following BP’s announcement that it had made a major gas discovery in Azerbaijan.

Shares in Tullow Oil, in the FTSE 100 climbed 5.3% and shares in JKX Oil and Gas in the Mid 250 were also up 13%.

Northern-based company, Helius Energy, which installs and operates renewable energy generator plants, also had a good day’s trading, with its shares rising 7.6% to end on 49.8p. 2007 has been an extremely successful year for the company, having floated its shares on AIM in January at a price of 26p, since which time the shares have risen to almost twice that level.

Anna McKechnie anna.mckechnie@wise-speke.co.uk