London close: Rally continues as Greek fears ease

30th Jun 2011 16:38

The rally continued Thursday, helping the top share index move back towards the 6,000 point mark it had been flitting around from the beginning of the year until the escalation of the Greek debt crisis. The Greek parliament's second vote on the proposed new austerity measures provided further cheer for traders.Today's star performer was London Stock Exchange, after its shareholders failed to support the high profile merger of the London Stock Exchange and Canadian bourse TMX - touted as the much needed trans-Atlantic transaction by the LSE. It has now become a possible takeover target.There was also a raft of company updates for investors to digest. Lloyds, the part-nationalised high street behemoth, led the way in the FTSE 100 after saying it is aiming to shed a further 15,000 jobs and cut its presence in foreign markets by half. The announcement comes as part of a review of the business by its new Chief Executive, António Horta-Osório. Other notable aims include an investment programme in new IT systems. This combined with the job cuts is likely to cost £2.3bn. Shares jumped by 7% early on.BG Group, the FTSE-100 gas and oil company, rose after it doubled the estimate of how much oil there might be in its Santos Basin site, 300 km off the coast of Brazil. Oil peers BP and Royal Dutch Shell were also higher.In the FTSE 250, Berendsen shone after the workwear rental and cleaning group said pre-tax profits for the full-year should beat last year's. The performance in continental Europe has been better than expected, while growth in the UK has been "modest."Business vehicle hire group Northgate was in the fast lane after posting a 47% rise in pre-tax profits in the year to 30 April. Pre-tax profit for the year totalled £53.8m, up from £36.5m the previous year, even as revenue fell to £715.5m from £749.6m. Greene King lacked froth though. It posted a sharp rise in profits as revenues moved higher in the year to 1 May, but the pub group and brewer foresees another "testing" year. Pre-tax profits climbed to £140m from £123m on revenues that were up to £1.04bn from £984m. The dividend climbed by 7.4% to 23.1p. Oilfield services firm Wood Group said that it has seen good growth in the year to date and expects full-year numbers to be in line with expectations. Shares edged upwards after the open.Sector peer Petrofac, however, bucked the sector trend despite saying that it is on course to deliver its target of at least 15% like-for-like net profit growth in 2011.No news was good news for ground engineering specialist Keller on Thursday, as the company said there had been no significant changes to the group's trading or outlook since it issued a profits warning in May.Department store Debenhams has thumbed its nose at its struggling neighbours on the high street, posting a rise in sales in the second half to date. Like for like sales were up by 3% from the same period the previous year, and by 1.5% excluding the VAT rise, Debenhams said. However, things are not so cheery at HMV. The struggling CD and DVD retailer is already pinning its hopes on a good Christmas to help revive declining sales. In the year to 30 April, sales fell by 7% from the same period the previous year to £1.868bn, while the company struggled to stay in the black, with pre-tax profits falling to £2.6m from £67.3m. Today's booby prize goes to Premier Foods. The food maker warned of a significant drop in profit for the first half of the year, reflecting higher input costs and sluggish consumer spending heightened by unseasonably warm weather. The company, whose brands include Hovis bread and Branston pickle, expects to report trading profit of between £65m and £70m, compared with £94m last year.FTSE 100 - RisersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 49.00p +9.73%BG Group (BG.) 1,414.00p +4.74%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 38.46p +4.62%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,094.00p +3.05%IMI (IMI) 1,053.00p +2.93%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,313.00p +2.90%Barclays (BARC) 256.45p +2.89%SABMiller (SAB) 2,271.50p +2.81%Standard Life (SL.) 210.50p +2.58%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 665.00p +2.47%FTSE 100 - FallersPetrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,514.00p -2.01%ICAP (IAP) 473.00p -1.21%ARM Holdings (ARM) 588.00p -1.09%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,402.00p -0.92%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,973.00p -0.70%ITV (ITV) 71.50p -0.63%Centrica (CNA) 323.30p -0.49%Whitbread (WTB) 1,615.00p -0.49%Capita Group (CPI) 715.50p -0.42%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,393.00p -0.36%FTSE 250 - RisersLondon Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,061.00p +10.98%Berendsen (BRSN) 545.00p +7.81%International Personal Finance (IPF) 367.90p +7.10%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 465.00p +6.92%Keller Group (KLR) 466.20p +5.95%Northgate (NTG) 327.90p +5.84%SThree (STHR) 397.00p +5.36%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 915.00p +5.17%St James's Place (STJ) 340.00p +4.94%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,131.00p +4.72%FTSE 250 - FallersPremier Foods (PFD) 19.02p -22.30%Greene King (GNK) 487.40p -5.91%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 46.07p -3.28%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 307.00p -2.48%Kofax (KFX) 443.00p -1.99%Betfair Group (BET) 756.50p -1.94%Halfords Group (HFD) 371.20p -1.67%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 263.00p -1.50%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 389.00p -1.32%Ocado Group (OCDO) 182.30p -1.19%