Market Wrap, Monday 25th February 2008

The FTSE 100 closed up 111 points at 5,999.5, which was down about 12 points off the high, wjhich was through 6k at 6,011.7. The FTSE 250 closed up 224.3 points at 10,275.3. 6,000 seems to be a target for most, with sellers moving in at that level each time we hit it.

By the time London closed, over the pond the DJI was up over 70 points at about 12,452, whilst the S&P 500 was up nearly 6 points at 1,358, whilst the Nasdaq was up nearly 10 points at 2,313. News that Visa said it will still go ahead with a US$19 bln IPO this year was taken well, as was the balout out troubled bond insurer Ambac Financial Group Inc, that would receive a capital injection to help preserve its coveted “AAA” rating.

Back here in London, as mentioned this morning, Lloyds TSB could be making a move for Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley as acquisitions. Lloyds TSB, which announced decent full-year profits of £3.9 bln on Friday, said that it was ‘early days’ on any possible action, and that the bank’s board had not discussed anything at meeting as yet. Added to the Lloyds TSB news was the rumour that the Qatari government could be contemplating a fair-siized investment in RBS said the same newspaper. The QIA has not bought RBS shares as yet, and no contact has been made as yet, but sources confirmed a stake may be bought. Peer RBS closed up 19p at 397, Alliance & Leicester ended up 45.5p at 555, HBOS was up 32p at 678 and Lloyds TSB closed up 9p at 466.5p, and Bradford & Bingley was up nearly 12p at 200.25p. Broker Lehman upgraded Lloyds TSB to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal-weight’.

Friends Provident closed up nearly 3p at 135p on the press news that US Private equity Group JC Flowers was talking with a group of leading banks about providing financing for a bid for the insurer. Peers were also up, with the Pru up 18p at 628 and Aviva up 19.5p at 588p.

Commercial proprty group Hammerson closed up 63p at 1,122 after its said it was confident it would still continue to do well, and received a Deutsche Bank repeate of its ‘buy’ stance and 14-quid target. Hammerson said it saw a 3% increase in NAV to £15.45 per share. Peer Land Securities closed up 88p at 1,626 and British Land closed up 33p 996.5.

Housebuilders were also up, with Persimmons up 47.5p at 763.5 as the group is expected to report a full-year profit of about £590 mln stg tomorrow. Peer Barratts was up over 14p at 413, whilst Redrow closed up nearly 21p at 299.5 ahead of its half-year results on Thursday.

Oil was up again, but not through US$100 bbl as yet. Brent (Apr del) was up about 60c at 97.60 giving the oil giants some weight. BP ended up 14.5p at 562.5 and RD Shell was up 34p at 1,815.

Associated British Foods was down 26p at 850.5p despite a decetn update confirming all was well since its last update 6 weeks ago. profit taking there, it seems.

Perth-based bus and train group Stagecoach closed up 18.5p at 243p after the group said it was trading at the top end of forecasts. Peer Arriva was 39.5p up at 714p on the back of a Deutsche Bank upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’. Peer National Express closed up 64p at 1,125.

Waste management group Biffa closed down 22.25p at just shy of 346p after it said the previous bid interest it had received had now fallen cold.

But industrial group Charter was the top midcap riser, up 85 at 868-1/2, continuing its rally from last week after Credit Suisse initiated the group with an ‘outperform’ stance and 1,050 pence target. Traders also highlighted a positive read-across from Q4 results Friday from US peer Lincoln Electric Holdings Inc.
Recruitment group Hays was up 9-3/4 at 116 ahead of interim results tomorrow and following solid figures from small cap rival Robert Walters today. Michael Page rose 21-3/4 to 298-3/4. On the downside, Premier Foods headed the midcap loser board, down 9 at 97 after ABN Amro placed 15 mln of the company’s shares at 96 pence each, and with Credit Suisse slashing its target to 100 pence from 250.