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Footsie closes higher as US taper plans back in focus

Published: 18:11 18 Oct 2013 BST

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A strong start on Wall Street, positive growth data from China and the potential of a delay to stimulus tapering helped the Footsie close higher.

London's benchmark closed up 0.71% at 6,623 - a one month high.

Across the pond, Dow Jones was up eight points to 15,380.

Mike Van Dulken, at Accendo Markets, said: "This was the week that US politicians finally saw the error of their ways and pulled their country back from the brink of debt default, albeit by delaying the inevitable for just a few months meaning we’re likely to see a re-run of the fiscal standoff in due course. 

"This has nonetheless seen risk appetite get a welcome shot in the arm with the US S&P 500 and German DAX 30 making new all-time highs and others like the FTSE100 pushing on with their recovery. 

"In addition, with markets still so addicted to easy monetary policy, there is much debate about the government shutdown having had such an impact on growth (0.6% of GDP) that the Fed will be obliged to hold back from tapering its QE3 for a good while longer, maybe even until Bernanke yields his Chairman’s seat to Yellen.  So far so good."

The biggest riser on Footsie was insurer Prudential (LON:PRU), up 4.12%, which does much of its business in Asia.

Elsewhere, defensive stocks were among the winners on a day typically defined by lower trading volumes, with Costa Coffee owner Whitbread (LON:WTB), Reckitt Benckiser (LON:RB.), and Johnnie Walker-to-Smirnoff drinks companyDiageo (LON:DGE) climbing. Silver giant Fresnillo (LON:FRES) also rose, boosted by the China data.

The biggest faller was William Hill (LON:WMH), down 3.19%, as the bookie was the victim of a double downgrade from JPMorgan, which decided it now merits an ‘underperform’ rating, having urged clients to buy the stock before.

Pay-TV heavyweight BSkyB (LON:BSY) slipped after some profit-taking on the back of some robust financial numbers yesterday, which saw it top the index, while mining giant Anglo American (LON:AAL) drifted lower after a mixed third quarter as a sharp fall in iron ore production offset a bumper performance from its copper mines.

On the junior market, Antrim Energy (LON:AEY) jumped again on Friday on the back of yesterday’s big gains.

Shares rose nearly 70% today to 8.875p and has risen 109% in the last two days.

In a late statement, the company said it was not aware of any specific reason for its recent share price move.

Sefton Resources (LON:SER) gained over 15% after it reached an undisclosed settlement with Tom Winnifrith and Daniel Levi.

The legal action was initiated in February of this year, with the pair accused of libel.

StatPro (LON:SOG) shares were on the front foot, up 2.7%, as it revealed recurring revenues from its cloud-based StatPro Revolution portfolio analysis service have jumped by 85%, with the client base swelling to 251.

The company said recurring revenues in the nine months to the end of September rose to £2.8 million from £1.5mln in 2012. 

StatPro Revolution-related recurring revenues increased to £6.9mln, making up 27% of total software revenues, thanks to customers of the older StatPro Seven software adding the newer version to their shopping lists.

It said this is proof its clients support its switch to cloud-based software.

Other notable gainers included Bushveld Minerals (LON:BMN), up 10.34%, and Minera IRL (LON:MIRL) which was up 6.36%. Motive Television (LON:MTV) added 12.77%.

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