London close: Footsie hits two-month high

7th Jul 2011 16:28

The Footsie finished at levels not seen since early May on Thursday after the Bank of England rate decision and a strong start in the US buoyed sentiment in London.At midday, Bank of England policy makers left interest rates on hold at the record low of 0.5%. The lack of movement was largely expected despite the annual rate of inflation remaining at 4.5% in May, more than double the 2% target set by the government.Meanwhile, manufacturing output bounced back in May, Showing the largest month-on-month rise in over a year. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed manufacturing output rose by 1.8% in May, after a fall of 1.6% in April 2011. Compared with May 2010, output increased by 2.8%. Consensus estimates had been calling for a monthly rise of 1.1%, and a 0.5% fall year-on-year. Also helping the mood was UK house prices, which rose by 1.2% month-on-month in June to the £163.049 mark, according to data from Halifax, after a 0.4% rise in May.Man Group was a high riser after reporting record sales in its first quarter. Funds under management at the hedge fund manager rose to $71bn at the end of June, from $69.1bn at the end of March, as the group racked up sales of $9.0bn to record a net inflow of $3.7bn after redemptions of $5.3bn. Meanwhile, the miners were also making decent gains, as copper and silver futures headed higher. Antofagasta, Kazakhmys, Fresnillo and ENRC were notable risers. Sector peer BHP Billiton was also in demand despite suspending its port and rail operating in Western Australia following a fatality at its Port Hedland iron ore terminal.GKN was firmly higher on speculation that Chinese automotive peer SAIC Motor Corp is considering a bid at 350p a share for the FTSE 100 firm, around a 47% premium to Wednesday's closing price of 237.4p. Shares rose over 3% to 245p today.Hammerson, on the other hand, fell almost 5% lower after the real estate investment trust's largest shareholder, a unit of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, sold its entire 12% stake in the company at 463 pence a share. British Sky Broadcasting Group was lower as fears grew that politicians, with more than half an eye on the public's horror at allegations of phone hacking by a News Corporation newspaper, could derail the mooted News Corp bid for the pay-TV broadcaster.On the FTSE 250, home furnishing retailer Dunelm surged over 11% after posting like-for-like sales growth despite operating in a challenging market.Premier Farnell, the engineering products supplier, lost around a fifth off its share price after warning that sales growth will come in below targets in what the firm describes as "difficult market conditions".BCFTSE 100 - RisersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,491.00p +3.76%Man Group (EMG) 255.70p +3.56%ARM Holdings (ARM) 637.00p +3.41%GKN (GKN) 245.00p +3.20%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,405.00p +3.08%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,443.00p +2.70%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 815.00p +2.45%Next (NXT) 2,398.00p +2.30%Sage Group (SGE) 293.70p +2.26%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,595.00p +2.26%FTSE 100 - FallersHammerson (HMSO) 463.70p -4.75%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 385.60p -2.97%Land Securities Group (LAND) 859.50p -2.88%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 293.30p -2.23%British Land Co (BLND) 605.00p -2.10%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 812.00p -1.81%Capita Group (CPI) 713.50p -0.90%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,485.00p -0.83%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,074.00p -0.65%Rexam (REX) 389.30p -0.64%FTSE 250 - RisersDunelm Group (DNLM) 450.50p +11.10%Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 338.00p +4.97%Petropavlovsk (POG) 761.50p +4.89%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 253.00p +4.03%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 241.80p +3.78%Elementis (ELM) 187.40p +3.65%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 485.90p +3.58%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 482.40p +3.47%Supergroup (SGP) 969.50p +3.41%Henderson Group (HGG) 160.60p +3.15%FTSE 250 - FallersPremier Farnell (PFL) 195.00p -20.11%Electrocomponents (ECM) 254.60p -7.25%Booker Group (BOK) 73.55p -5.52%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 141.80p -4.58%Hays (HAS) 100.40p -2.62%Derwent London (DLN) 1,821.00p -2.62%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 197.40p -2.61%Michael Page International (MPI) 532.00p -2.47%easyJet (EZJ) 349.90p -2.32%Telecom Plus (TEP) 673.00p -2.25%FTSE TechMARK - RisersXaar (XAR) 295.00p +7.96%Microgen (MCGN) 181.00p +7.42%Psion (PON) 75.00p +4.17%Filtronic (FTC) 27.00p +3.85%Vernalis (VER) 40.88p +3.48%Asterand (ATD) 11.88p +3.26%Dialight (DIA) 759.50p +3.05%Renovo Group (RNVO) 14.25p +2.70%RM (RM.) 150.88p +2.64%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 232.62p +2.48%FTSE TechMARK - FallersArk Therapeutics Group (AKT) 4.97p -5.24%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 975.00p -2.50%CML Microsystems (CML) 235.50p -2.08%AEA Technology Group (AAT) 3.45p -1.43%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 185.00p -1.33%KCOM Group (KCOM) 78.75p -1.25%Innovation Group (TIG) 22.75p -1.09%Ricardo (RCDO) 384.00p -0.81%Emblaze Ltd. (BLZ) 61.38p -0.81%Vectura Group (VEC) 93.00p -0.80%