London open: Rally continues after Wall Street surge

21st Apr 2011 08:37

Another stonking performance by US stocks overnight has sent shares higher still, with this morning's company updates also sparking buying interest.William Hill raced ahead after the bookmaker reported good growth in its retail and online operations in the 13 weeks to 29 March. Total revenues were up by 11% from the same period a year ago, with retail seeing an 8% rise and online revenues soaring by 26%. Group operating profit climbed by 21%. Peer Ladbrokes is also in demand.A sharp improvement in the share price of its biggest investment, Hugo Boss, contributed to a strong increase in the net asset value (NAV) of investment firm SVG Capital, another riser today, in the first quarter. Adjusted NAV at the end of March stood at £1,108m, an 11% increase on the year-end value, which stood at just below £1bn. NAV per share was 350.6p on a fully diluted basis. Strong trading in the nine weeks to 27 March leave Sports Direct confident that it will meet its profit targets for 2010/11. The sports shop operator said total sales were up by 10.3% from the same period a year ago at £236m, with gross profits climbing by 7.3% to £88m.It was a soggy first quarter for mining giant Anglo American which saw rainfall hinder production of iron ore, metallurgical coal and copper, though output of platinum, nickel, thermal coal and diamonds increased.The total value of new sales reservations taken in the year to date has increased by around 12% when compared to the same period last year, house building firm Persimmon said. "Our order book, including legal completions already achieved this year, now stands at a similar level to last year at £1.14bn," it added.Insurance firms have been busy with their calculators in the wake of the devastating earthquake in Japan last month. Beazley said the net cost of catastrophes in Australia, New Zealand and Japan is estimated to be $154m. Insurance underwriter Lancashire Holdings, which has more than recovered from the share price tumble it suffered in the wake of the Japanese earthquake, said it expects to take a $75m hit from claims arising from the natural disaster. FTSE 100 - RisersTUI Travel (TT.) 237.40p +2.37%Next (NXT) 2,244.00p +2.33%Aggreko (AGK) 1,665.00p +1.77%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 631.00p +1.77%John Wood Group (WG.) 692.00p +1.69%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 938.00p +1.63%ARM Holdings (ARM) 617.50p +1.56%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,909.00p +1.49%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,634.00p +1.36%BG Group (BG.) 1,537.50p +1.25%FTSE 100 - FallersInterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,265.00p -2.32%Carnival (CCL) 2,382.00p -2.06%Vodafone Group (VOD) 173.20p -1.95%Whitbread (WTB) 1,692.00p -0.88%BT Group (BT.A) 190.70p -0.83%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 222.00p -0.63%Compass Group (CPG) 576.00p -0.52%Inmarsat (ISAT) 599.00p -0.42%WPP (WPP) 755.50p -0.26%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 341.50p -0.20%FTSE 250 - RisersWilliam Hill (WMH) 215.40p +8.51%SVG Capital (SVI) 269.20p +4.79%Elementis (ELM) 170.00p +3.79%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 477.50p +2.91%Ladbrokes (LAD) 147.80p +2.71%Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 344.90p +2.68%Petropavlovsk (POG) 922.50p +2.50%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 275.00p +2.23%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 225.30p +1.99%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 485.40p +1.89%FTSE 250 - FallersBwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 166.00p -3.77%Beazley (BEZ) 130.70p -1.80%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 83.30p -1.65%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 47.78p -1.48%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 112.50p -1.14%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 45.88p -0.91%Spirent Communications (SPT) 134.00p -0.89%Edinburgh Dragon Trust (EFM) 247.90p -0.88%Carillion (CLLN) 384.10p -0.75%Afren (AFR) 160.20p -0.74%