Britain's leading shares closed higher on Tuesday boosted by results from Barclays, Schroders and Associated British Foods. The FTSE 100 closed up 25.23 points, or 0.4 percent, at 5,875.19, after closing down 0.4 percent on Monday. The index is up 8.5 percent this year and has jumped around 23 percent since hitting a year's low on July 1, and some analysts see the FTSE attacking the 6,000 level near-term.
"Solid (corporate results) updates ... have helped cheer investors and shake off the indifference that dogged yesterday's session," Anthony Grech, head of research at IG Index, said. "Traders are eyeing up the 6000 level as the next target for the FTSE, and at the rate that the markets have bounced back in recent days, they may not have to wait too long."
Barclays added 4 percent after a sharp improvement in its bad debts helped lift the bank's underlying third-quarter profit and boosted the sector, with the UK banking index up 0.8 percent. Elsewhere among financials, investment manager Schroders rose 5.5 percent after it beat third-quarter market expectations on the back of strong sales to overseas institutional clients.
Associated British Foods, owner of low-cost clothing retailer Primark, gained 3.2 percent as it beat forecasts with a 25 percent rise in full-year earnings. However, Marks & Spencer dropped 1.7 percent on plans by the new head of the British clothing, food and homewares group to ramp up investment in its core UK, online and overseas businesses.
"There are a few interesting developments but a new capex increase which may unnerve some, given historical spend," Singer analyst Matthew McEachran said. Mobile phones operator Vodafone fell 0.6 percent, having earlier hit highs not seen since February 2008, after it raised its profit outlook and agreed to sell its interests in Japanese carrier SoftBank for 3.1 billion pounds ($5 billion).
Intercontinental Hotels slipped 5.2 percent, the heaviest FTSE 100 faller, with investors booking gains after recent strength even though it reported a 5 percent increase in third-quarter revenue. Miners provided strong support to the index as gold hit a record high and copper hit a 27-month peak. Rio Tinto added 2.8 percent. Randgold Resources climbed 4.6 percent after it said third-quarter profits more than doubled to $28.2 million.
Mid cap gold miner Petropavlovsk rose 8.3 percent. Energy firms also added to strength for the index as crude futures hit a two-year high after the International Energy Agency said oil may exceed $100 per barrel by 2015. Oil major BP added 2.4 percent as a US presidential panel said it found no evidence that BP deliberately chose to cut corners to save costs in making the disastrous decisions that led to the US's worst ever oil spill.
Economic growth in Britain is likely to have slowed to 0.5 percent in the three months to October from 0.8 percent in the three months to September, the National Institute of Economic and Social Research said. Mid cap British yellow-pages publisher Yell Group fell 20.5 percent after it cut its third quarter guidance.
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