AGL 40.00 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
AIRLINK 129.06 Decreased By ▼ -0.47 (-0.36%)
BOP 6.75 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.05%)
CNERGY 4.49 Decreased By ▼ -0.14 (-3.02%)
DCL 8.55 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-4.36%)
DFML 40.82 Decreased By ▼ -0.87 (-2.09%)
DGKC 80.96 Decreased By ▼ -2.81 (-3.35%)
FCCL 32.77 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFBL 74.43 Decreased By ▼ -1.04 (-1.38%)
FFL 11.74 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (2.35%)
HUBC 109.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.97 (-0.88%)
HUMNL 13.75 Decreased By ▼ -0.81 (-5.56%)
KEL 5.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.48%)
KOSM 7.72 Decreased By ▼ -0.68 (-8.1%)
MLCF 38.60 Decreased By ▼ -1.19 (-2.99%)
NBP 63.51 Increased By ▲ 3.22 (5.34%)
OGDC 194.69 Decreased By ▼ -4.97 (-2.49%)
PAEL 25.71 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.53%)
PIBTL 7.39 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-3.52%)
PPL 155.45 Decreased By ▼ -2.47 (-1.56%)
PRL 25.79 Decreased By ▼ -0.94 (-3.52%)
PTC 17.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.96 (-5.2%)
SEARL 78.65 Decreased By ▼ -3.79 (-4.6%)
TELE 7.86 Decreased By ▼ -0.45 (-5.42%)
TOMCL 33.73 Decreased By ▼ -0.78 (-2.26%)
TPLP 8.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.66 (-7.28%)
TREET 16.27 Decreased By ▼ -1.20 (-6.87%)
TRG 58.22 Decreased By ▼ -3.10 (-5.06%)
UNITY 27.49 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.22%)
WTL 1.39 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.72%)
BR100 10,445 Increased By 38.5 (0.37%)
BR30 31,189 Decreased By -523.9 (-1.65%)
KSE100 97,798 Increased By 469.8 (0.48%)
KSE30 30,481 Increased By 288.3 (0.95%)

Britain's top equity index moved further away from this week's six-month lows on Thursday, lifted by well-received results from Associated British Foods and Barratt Developments. AB Foods, the owner of Primark, gained 5.1 percent to 3,082 pence to be the top riser on the bluechip FTSE 100 after it posted robust results, maintaining guidance and with a small rise in revenue.
"(The) trading update confirms the group is on track for the full year ... while there are some generally encouraging undertones we believe," Credit Suisse analysts said in a note. While they left estimates unchanged, they rate the stock as "outperform" with a target price of 3,250p. "No change to our estimates ... but some encouraging comments here on Primark and Sugar." Barratt Developments also rose after results, gaining 4.4 percent after Britain's biggest housebuilder said it sees better-than-expected profit for this year.
The rise partly counteracted a 5.7 percent slide in the previous session after Britain's finance minister announced a cut in tax breaks for landlords. Barratt's chief executive said that the market reaction on Wednesday was "very overdone". "Strong set of results from Barratt... the sector was weak after the budget yesterday but this is not anything too concerning," Guardian Stockbrokers directors, Atif Latif, said.
"The drop yesterday allowed investors to buy back into the sector and Barratt. The market continues to see the housing sector in the sweet spot of a growth area that will continue to flourish." Other housebuilders also rebounded, with Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon up 4.9 percent and 4.2 percent respectively. Elsewhere, mid-cap power producer Drax, which saw its share price slide 28 percent following Wednesday's budget, also rallied. It rose 7.4 percent after it said the changes to tax exemptions on green power would have less of an impact than some traders had feared. The FTSE 100 rose 90.93 points, or 1.4 percent to 6,581.63 points by the close, having hit a six-month low in the previous session.
Fund managers were also among top gainers, with the sector led higher by Man Group. The world's largest listed hedge fund company broke a five-day losing streak to surge 5.9 percent, with traders citing positive broker comment, slightly improved performance and a recovery in commodity prices. Miners also benefited from a commodity price rally, with the sector buoyed by a respite in China's stock market sell-off after measures were announced to support the stability of capital markets in the world's biggest metals consumer.

Copyright Reuters, 2015

Comments

Comments are closed.