Market Wrap, Tuesday 25th March 2008

The FTSE did a bit better today, to say the least.  To keep hold of a 150-200 point lead for the close was very positive indeed.   The FTSE closed up 193.9 points at 5,689.1, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 346.2 at 9,794.6.

The news we mentioned this morning regarding the JP Morgan/Bear Sterns bid gave the financial side of things something positive. Other news over the pond that house sales were better than expected also gave some confidence, although the average prices were down.  By the time London closed the DJI was down nearly 30 points at 12,519, whilst the S&P500 was down 2 points at 1,352, and the Nasdaq down about 6 points at 2,333.

back here in London the banks did well.  Barclays closed up 30p at 459p after Merrills reiterated its ‘buy’ rating of the bank, whilst HBOS did even better, up nearly 71p at 544.5p after news that directors had been buying shares after those false rumours last week.  RBS closed up 30p at 351.25, lloyds TSB up 27.5p at 461.5, Alliance & Leicester up 11.5p at 548.25.

Insurance also did well. Standard Life closed up nearly 18p at 252.5p, Aviva up 44.5p 635.5p, and Old Mutual closed up 9.1p better that 114.4.

The miners gave the FTSE a boost too, with the heavyweights climbing well after metal prices turned up again.  Anglo closed up 169p at 2,841, Rio up 185p at 4,982.5, Xstrata up 233p at 3,713, BHP up 69p at 1,430.5, and Kazakhmys closed up 107p at 1,541.5.

Oil stocks did well as the price of the black stuff was near US$100 bbl. BP closd up 19p at just shy of 515p, RD Shell closed up 48p at 1,682, and Tullow Oil up 31p at just shy of 649p.

The housebuilders also had a decent day today, probably mostly due to the US housing report yetserday.  Persimmons closed up 71.5p at 770, Taylor Wimpey up 19.5p at 183.3p, Bovis up 74p at 597-1/2, Redrow up nearly 34p at just shy of 304p, and Bellways was up 57p at just shy of 809p.  Bellway announces its interim figures in the morning.

British Energy was subject to bid rumours, closing up 39.5p at 660.25 after a weekend press report that Centrica is sniffing with a possible £10 bln stg bid for the nuclear power company.

Yellow Pages publisher Yell had a little bounce, after its torrid recent weeks, with a 17p rise to 155p.

To the negatives, where Merrills didn’t helped the recently strong Morrissons as it downgraded the supermarket chain to ‘neautral’ from ‘buy’, resulting in a 7.5p fall to close at 272p.

After news that the government wants to hide cigarettes under the counters of shops, the tobacco sector took a hit.  British American Tobacco closed down 58p at 1,822, and Imperial Tobacco closed down 55p at 23-quid a share.

Go-Ahead, the transport group, closed up 54p to close at 1,586.5 after broker upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘add’ and kept its 2,155p target saying it looked cheap.