Market consolidates as BA rise headlines
THE UK stock market consolidated Wednesday’s gain yesterday as the FTSE 100 Index rose by 10 points to end the session at 5277.
British Airways was the headline index’s biggest riser after the company’s proposed merger with the Spanish airline Iberia appeared to move closer.
Indeed it was reported in the Spanish press that the Board of Iberia had approved the terms of the proposed merger, although the company would not confirm these reports.
British Airways shares closed the session 15p higher at 215p.
Shares in telecommunications companies were also strong as Inmarsat, which provides satellites for global mobile communications, mostly for ships and for areas too remote or too dangerous for conventional service, rose by 7%.
BT Group shares rose by 3% after the company reported its figures for the first half of the year, which were slightly ahead of the consensus of analysts’ estimates.
The company expects revenue growth from operations to be 4.5% and the board committed to growing the dividend by 5% this year.
Among top flight firms, Argos owner Home Retail Group added 8.6p to 313.2p and B&Q firm Kingfisher lifted 7.3p to 247.2p.
Tesco, which announced the first in a series of joint ventures to set up shopping malls in China, finished 6.3p up at 425p.
Amec was the weakest performer of the UK’s blue chip stocks.
The company issued an interim management statement covering the period from the end of June and advised investors that trading for 2009 would be in line with expectations.
The order book fell to £3bn, which is lower than the £3.2bn report in June but higher than the £2.5bn of October 2008. The shares closed 5% lower at 823p.
Fergus.westwood@brewin.co.uk
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