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Footsie lifted by Greek austerity vote [Herald, The (Scotland)]
(Herald, The (Scotland) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Britain's leading shares index closed higher yesterday, led by commodity and financial stocks, after Greece moved a step closer to securing an international bailout.
At the close, the FTSE-100 index was up 53.31 points, or 0.9%, at 5905.70, with many traders in London away for the school half-term holiday.
"Buyers lifted the Footsie on the back of the Greek news, but it was not as confidence building a rally as one would have hoped," said Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads.
"Investors are still wary as it does not mean Greece is immune to defaulting sometime in the future, and investors continue to keep a close eye on the likes of Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy."
Banks provided a boost for the blue chips after the Greek parliament voted through a bill that sets out EUR 3.3 billion (pound(s)2.8bn) of extra budget cuts for this year.
Insurers were also in demand as bond default worries eased and equity valuations recovered, with RSA Insurance up at 1.8%, helped by positive comment from Nomura which said the group had performed in line with the Footsie in the year to date.
Shares in Edinburgh-based Standard Life closed up 2.8p at 227.9p.
Integrated oils and miners also moved higher on demand hopes as the debt swap deal for Greece lifted some of the uncertainty hanging over the global economic outlook.
Miners were also boosted by more mergers and acquisitions talk following last week's announcement of the proposed merger between Glencore and Xstrata, with reports Canadian metals and coal miner Teck Resources may be building a stake in Australia's third-largest iron ore producer Fortescue Metal.
M&A moves also catapulted mid cap Cable Wireless Worldwide up 44.5%, easily the biggest market gainer, after Vodafone Group, the world's largest mobile operator by revenue, said it was weighing a $1.1bn (pound(s)700m) offer for the telecoms firm. Vodafone shares added 1%.
Credit Suisse said with many corporate balance sheets now repaired, appetite for acquisitions is building up, and highlighted financial services group Old Mutual among possible acquisition targets. Old Mutual shares added 2%.
Cruise operator Carnival Corp and airlines group IAG were among the top blue-chip fallers, down 2.5% and 1.4% respectively, hit by fears over a hike in fuel costs as crude prices rose.
Glasgow-based engineer Weir Group down 0.7%, as the appetite for safer assets faded.
(c) 2012 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.
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