London open: Rally continues as updates impress

13th May 2011 08:32

Stocks have continued a rally that began ahead of the close yesterday, helped by a good performance on Wall Street last night and some well received company news.In company news, oil services group Petrofac says it is "increasingly confident" that it will deliver profit growth in line with previous guidance after a strong performance so far this year.Bourses operator London Stock Exchange (LSE) is higher after it hailed a 22% increase in adjusted operating profit and said a packed pipeline of new issues promises more to come. Adjusted operating profit in the year to 31 March rose to £341.1m from £280.3m the year before, on revenue that grew 2% to £615.9m from £605.6m the year before. The median consensus forecast for the LSE's revenue was £640.9m, while investment analysts had pencilled in a figure of £314m for operating profit. ull year expectations remain unchanged at Dignity, the UK's only listed funeral care provider, after the group saw underlying operating profit increase by more than 10% in the first quarter. Its shares are also higher.Bermuda based insurance underwriter Catlin is up after it said rates for certain classes of business are starting to rise after a first quarter that saw an unprecedented number of significant natural disasters. Catlin reiterated its estimate of $375m of losses related to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, the New Zealand earthquake and the floods in Australia. Trading at precision instruments and controls group Spectris has been strong so far this year, assisted by a healthy order book at the start of the year, the firm has said. Like-for-like sales were up by 21% in the four months to the end of April from the same period a year ago, the company said. The shares are higher. Among today's fallers is Stobart after the distribution group hit back at an article in the Daily Telegraph saying the Financial Services Authority (FSA) is examining a deal that will see Stobart buy a property portfolio from its chief executive. FTSE 100 - RisersARM Holdings (ARM) 601.00p +1.78%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 854.00p +1.67%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,354.00p +1.65%Anglo American (AAL) 2,983.50p +1.60%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,778.00p +1.57%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,178.00p +1.54%Essar Energy (ESSR) 427.80p +1.47%BT Group (BT.A) 201.90p +1.46%Whitbread (WTB) 1,656.00p +1.41%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,124.00p +1.38%FTSE 100 - FallersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 398.60p -0.90%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,364.00p -0.29%Compass Group (CPG) 590.00p -0.25%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 394.20p -0.18%Next (NXT) 2,318.00p -0.17%Amec (AMEC) 1,177.00p -0.17%National Grid (NG.) 629.00p 0.00%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,398.00p +0.07%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,299.00p +0.08%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 841.00p +0.12%FTSE 250 - RisersLondon Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 845.00p +3.17%Supergroup (SGP) 1,255.00p +2.95%Pace (PIC) 97.00p +2.86%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 99.50p +2.47%CPP Group (CPP) 129.00p +2.38%Cookson Group (CKSN) 718.50p +2.35%Dignity (DTY) 765.00p +2.20%JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 422.00p +1.93%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,533.00p +1.93%Spectris (SXS) 1,519.00p +1.88%FTSE 250 - FallersRedrow (RDW) 121.00p -4.42%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 132.00p -2.73%Punch Taverns (PUB) 76.15p -2.37%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 671.50p -1.83%ITE Group (ITE) 250.80p -1.61%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,761.00p -1.60%RPC Group (RPC) 332.50p -1.13%Exillon Energy (EXI) 450.80p -0.75%Polar Cap Technology Trust (PCT) 371.00p -0.62%Computacenter (CCC) 467.10p -0.62%