Market Wrap, Wednesday 30th April 2008

Despite being up about 33 points at one stage during the day, the FTSE closed down 2 points today at 6,087.3, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down nearly 115 points at 10,122.3.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up a healthy 111 points at 12,943, whilst the S&P500 was up 8 points at 1,399 and the Nasdaq up 17 points at 2,443.  feeling is fairly positive on what is released by the Fed Res after their 2-day meeting.

Back here in London the miners weren’t doing very well as the US Dollar was stronger, affecting metal prices.  Vedanta had a bad day, down 105p at 2,245, whilst peer Kazakhmys closed down 66p at 1,582 after announcing its copper cathode production was down 16% compared to last year, blaming winter weather, and ENRC (Eurasian Natural Resources)closed down 47p to 1,200. Anto did well, though, closing up 19.5p at just shy of 803p after saying its own copper production was up over 8% in the 1st quarter, although its costs more than doubled.

On to the banks, which also had a poor day. RBS was down a further 5.75p to close at 345p as investors began to show concern about the rights issue, whilst peer Barclays closed down 3.5p at 456.5, Lloyds TSB down 6.25p at 432.5p, and HBOS down another 16.25p at 470p after a Cazenove downgrade to ‘in-line’ from ‘outperform’.  HSBC, on the other hand, closed up 8.5p at just shy of 880p after a Goldman Sachs upgarde to ‘buy’ from ’sell’ and upped its target by 20% as well.

The oil majors didn’t do very well either, as the price of the black stuff came down a little as the dollar got stronger.  BG Group didn’t have a good day, closing down 77p to 1,231 aftre news of a £6 bln bid for Australia’s Origin Energy Ltd was made known. BG announced record profits yesterday, together with a 76% rise in profit for the 1st quarter. BP closed down 2p to 611.25 despite a Credit Suisse upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘neutral’ and 720p target, whilst RD Shell closed down 15p to 2,027,5 despite a Credit Suisse 23-quid target.

Home Retail Group closed up over 21p at 264p after the retailer reported a 15% rise in full year profit, whcih was expected. This prompted Panmure Gordon to reiterate its ‘buy’ rating, saying Argos owner Home Retail delivered decent figures which were at the top end of expectations.  It added that it felt HRG is better placed than most retailers for a hard ride in the High Street.

BSkyB closed up 4.5p to close at 545.25p after announcing a rise of 56,000 subscribers in th 3rd quarter, and said less people were defecting to rivals. It also said that 9 month sales were up 10% to £3.706 bln. ABN Amro liked the figures and news and reiterated its ‘buy’ rating. BSkyB’s peer ITV closed up 1.6p to 66p.

Standard Life closed up nearly 23p to just shy of 231p after the Edinburgh-based insurer said UK sales for the 1st quarter were up 8%. Peer Admiral Group closed up 50.5p to 871.25p after a Citigroup upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.

AstraZeneca closed up 36p to close at 2,128.5 after announcing it has submitted a New Drug Application to the U.S. FDA for approval of a new drug for the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

PartyGaming closed down 2.25p to close at 24.25p on the back of rather mediocre 1st quarter figures, prompting broker Arbuthnot Securities to repeat its ’sell’ stance and 15p target. The on-line gaming group announced 1st quarter revenues up to US$128.9m from US$106.2m last year for the same quarter, but this was really just as expected.