Overview: the FTSE 100 remained 30 points, or 0.6% above the opening level in late afternoon after a positive start on Wall Street after an from the Labor Department showed a higher than expected rise in jobless claims of 17,000 to 474,000 last week, while the Commerce Department reported an unexpected 7.6% reduction of trade deficit in October to prop up the market.
In other macroeconomic news, Bank of England decided to leave its interest rates unchanged from the current level of 0.5%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.75%, the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index climbed 0.7%, as did the technology heavy Nasdaq composite.
Financial stocks performed well today with banks Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Barclays (LSE: BARC) emerging atop the leaderboard with gains of 5% and 4% respectively. Life insurer Standard Life (LSE: SL) also added 4%, while bailed out bank Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) rose 3.5%.
Other notable risers included broadcaster BSkyB (LSE: BSY) with a 3% gain, asset management company Schroders (LSE: SDR) and hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG), which both rose 2%.
Only a handful of FTSE 100 constituents lost more than 1% today. Oil and gas company Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) was the heaviest faller in the index with a 2% loss. While miner Xstrata (LSE: XTA) followed with a 1.8% decline. Engineering company Invensys (LSE: ISYS) retreated 1.5%, while commercial property company Land Securities Group (LSE: LAND) and United Utilities (LSE: UU) were down 1%.
Commodities
Oil prices declined today, dragging the major oil and gas stocks down. January Brent Crude slid to US$72.75/barrel, while US benchmark crude was down to US$71.28, showing slight improvement from morning, when it slipped below $71.
Supermajors BP (LSE: BP) and Shell (LSE: RDSB) posted losses of less than 1%, as did another FTSE 100 constituent Petrofac (LSE: PFC). Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) lagged behind with a 1.3% drop.
BG Group (LSE: BG) and Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) managed to stay above the opening level with marginal gains.
Midcaps were mixed as while Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) advanced 1% and Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) rose marginally, Dragon Oil (LSE: DGO) retreated 1%.
Atlantic Canada operating oil and gas group Enegi Oil (AIM: ENEG) and Europe focused oil and gas developer Ascent Resources (AIM: AST) were the top performers in the sector, advancing 16% and 13% respectively. North America focused oil & gas junior Pantheon Resources (AIM: PANR) and Peru, Colombia and Cuba operating oil and gas explorer and producer Gold Oil (LSE: GOO) followed, climbing 6.5% and Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) rose 3.5%.
Eastern Europe focused junior Aurelian Oil & Gas (AIM: AUL) and Irish oil and gas exploration company Petroceltic International (AIM: PCI) headed in the opposite direction, slipping 5% and 3.5% respectively.
Miners rise as gold, silver and platinum recover
Precious metals slightly improved with gold climbing to US$1,130/oz, while silver and platinum reached US$17.41/oz and US$1,425/oz, respectively.
Blue chip miners improved following the increases in metal prices. Silver miner Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) advanced 1.4%, while gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) rose 1% and platinum producer Lonmin (LSE: LMI) posted a marginal gain.
Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) was flat.
Aquarius Platinum (LSE: AQP) took the lead in the sector in the FTSE 250, climbing 2%, while silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) rose marginally and gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) slid to the bottom of the pile with a 3.5% loss.
Tajikistan operating gold miner Kryso Resources (AIM: KYS) and South Africa and Botswana operating diamond miner Firestone Diamonds (AIM: FDI) emerged as the top performers in the sector, advancing 9% and 8.5% respectively. Australian gold and copper prospector Solomon Gold (AIM: SOLG), African focused nickel and gold exploration and development junior Nyota Minerals (AIM & ASX: NYO) and South American based explorer Mariana Resources (AIM: MARL) all tacked on 3.5%.
Commodity asset development company Mercator Gold (AIM: MCR) was one of the day’s biggest fallers, dipping 11%. Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold explorer KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEF) followed with a 6% slide.
Copper and nickel climb
Base metals also inched higher after falling for the better part of the week. Copper and nickel climbed to US$3.09/lb and US$7.43/lb respectively and zinc reached US$1.03/lb.
Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) led the base metal focused miners with a 2% advance. Anglo American (LSE: AAL), Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO), BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT), Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) and Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) moved in the same direction, tacking on less than 1%.
Xstrata (LSE: XTA) slid 1% and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) declined marginally.
London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) was in selling mode, sliding 1.4%.
Zinc mining and recycling specialist ZincOX (AIM: ZOX) and Australia focused coking coal producer Caledon Resources (AIM: CDN) also declined, shedding 7.5% and 6% respectively. South American focused junior miner Herencia Resources (AIM: HER) and mineral sands producer Kenmare Resources (LSE: KMR) both lost about 5%.
Russia focused copper and nickel producer Amur Minerals (AIM: AMC) was one of the top performers, adding nearly 9%. Iron ore focused investor Red Rock Resources (AIM: RRR) and cement operator Prosperity Mineral Holdings (AIM: PMHL) added 6% and 4% respectively.
Banks, insurers, private equity
Part-nationalised Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) led the banking sector with a 5.7% advance. Another bailed out bank Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) added 4%, as did Barclays (LSE: BARC). Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) and HSBC (LSE: HSBA) also did well, tacking on 2.5% and 1.5%.
Insurance stocks also were in buying mode with Standard Life (LSE: SL) and Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) in the lead with gains of 4.5% and 3.3%. RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) advanced 2.7%, while Admiral Group (LSE: ADM) and Old Mutual (LSE: OML) added 2%. Aviva (LSE: AV) rose marginally, while Prudential (LSE: PRU) made little headway.
Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) rose 1.7%.
Large and Mid Cap News
International resource company, Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) announced it will sell a larger proportion of its Ekibastuz GRES -1 power plant to Kazakhstan’s National Welfare Fund, Samruk-Kazyna JSC. The amended deal sees the Kazakh government-backed company selling 50% of Ekibastuz for $681 million, up from 25% for $339m as announced Oct 13th 2009.
International telecommunications group, Cable & Wireless (LSE: CW) announced that it has appointed Tim Weller as its new chief financial officer for the Worldwide business unit, which is set to demerge from the group in March 2010. Weller will be joining Worldwide from his current position as CFO of United Utilities (LSE: UU)in May 2010.
Construction and support service group, Carillion (LSE: CLLN) has been named as the preferred bidder for a £450 million, Public Private Partnership project to redevelop the Southmead Hospital, Bristol. Through a joint venture with the Bank of Scotland, the FTSE250 constituent will finance the new 800-bed acute hospital, investing up to £50 million. Subsequently, Carillion is providing design, construction, maintenance and facilities management services for the project.
Environmentally focused support services group Eaga PLC (LSE: EAGA) said it is expecting double digit percentage profit growth in first half when it updated on trading for the period to 30 November 2009. Eaga shares climbed almost 2% on the London Stock Exchange following the announcement.
FTSE250 energy services group, Hunting PLC (LSE: HTG) announced its acquisition of well intervention engineers, the Welltonic Group. The deal is worth a total of £9 million, with an initial payment of £7m and a further £2m subject to performances targets over an 18 month period.
Sinclair Pharma PLC (LSE: SPH) said all shares of the firm placing and open offer first announced in October have been placed with new and existing shareholders, and admission of the shares to trading is expected on December 11, the day after the company’s AGM.
Small Cap News
South Africa and Botswana operating diamond miner Firestone Diamonds (AIM: FDI) said production from the BK11 kimberlite in Botswana was now expected ahead of schedule after the company announced increases in both the resource and grade of the deposit.
London Mining (AIM: LOND) said that a total resource for the Wadi Sawawin project in Saudi Arabia has been confirmed at 230 Mt (million tonnes) grading 41% Fe (iron), adding it now aimed to extend mine life beyond 20 year after identifying a new exploration target.
Vehicle tracking technology specialist CybIT Holdings (AIM: CYH) announced they have recommended a cash offer of 75p per share from Cyberspace Bidco Ltd, an investment vehicle for the Francisco Partners private equity group. The offer values Cybit at approximately £22.8 million.
Astaire Securities offered an upbeat forecast for the prospects of machine to machine (M2M) communications specialist Telit Communications (AIM: TCM), projecting the M2M module market to return to 20% pa (per annum) growth, while estimating the reduction in cost of profits following Telit’s relocation of manufacturing to China at as much as 20%.
Zinc mining, recycling and refining group ZincOx Resources PLC (AIM: ZOX) said bondholders have pulled out of the Jabali open pit zinc mine being built in Jemen, but that the attractive economics of the project allow it to consider a broad range of financing options.
Iron ore focused investor Red Rock Resources (AIM: RRR) said its 25.2% owned associate Jupiter Mines (ASX: JMS) has set an exploration target of 1.1 - 1.3 billion tones for magnetite at the Mt Ida prospect at the Yilgarn Iron project in Western Australia grading from 30% to 40% iron.
Sable Mining Africa (AIM: SBLM) confirmed this morning that it had completed a placing to raise £27 million for acquisitions in sub-Sahara Africa focussed on uranium and coal opportunities.
Jefferies International retained its “buy” recommendation and upped its target price for Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) after the Western Europe operating oil and gas company commenced production from its Grolloo field in the Netherlands, de-risking development NAV (net asset value) and leading the broker to set a target equal to its core NAV valuation.
Brokers Charles Stanley Securities and Daniel Stewart & Co issued upbeat notes on S & U PLC (LSE: SUS) in response to the group’s trading statement yesterday, reiterating their respective ‘buy’ ratings for the home credit and motor finance specialist.
Churchill Mining (AIM: CHL) said it has appointed Pala Investments AG as strategic advisor to assess the company's current structure with a view towards increasing its operational and capital-raising flexibility.
Renewable Energy Holdings (AIM: REH) said its 31% owned clean technology and wave energy developer Carnegie Wave Energy (ASX: CWE) is set to deploy the first commercial scale wave power unit to Australia after executing a deed of license with the Government of the State of Western Australia for access to an area of seabed in waters to the west of Garden Island off Perth.
Gulfsands Petroleum PLC (AIM: GPX) said it was notified by founder and former chief executive John Dorrier that, following the sale of shares on December 7, Dorrier has ceased to be a substantial shareholder in the company.
Gold producer Medusa Mining (ASX: MML, TSX: MLL), through its Philippines operating company Philsaga Mining Corporation, has announced an update of drilling results, with high grade intersections to the east of the Co-O Mine confirming strike extensions of the vein system to around 1,400 metres.
Empyrean Energy (AIM: EME) announced that it would be participating in the drilling of Hercules Prospect, onshore Texas which has a mean gross unrisked resource potential of 21.4 billion cubic feet. Since listing on AIM, Empyrean has focused on taking non-operating interests in prospects in the southern states in the US. US based Krescent Energy are operating the well, and have become a regular source of farm-in deals for Empyrean Energy.