United Kingdom: SABMiller’s stock boosts FTSE
Brewing giant SABMiller was the toast of the London market on September 30 as the FTSE 100 Index chased a positive end to the trading week, Ireland On Line has posted. SABMiller benefited from an upgrade by broker Deutsche Bank as it rose 4% or 41p to 1129p to be the highest riser on a day when Scottish & Newcastle was also ahead by 1.25p at 468.25p.
Bid whispers in the healthcare sector also kept traders in positive spirits, with the Footsie rising 9.1 points to 5487.3 by mid-morning.
However, this was only a third of the gains that the market had racked up in the opening minutes when it broke through the 5500 mark as investors took their cue from a positive session on Wall Street overnight.
Traders think venture capitalists are sniffing around pharmacy group Alliance UniChem and its shares hit their highest level for more than five years today, up 11.5p to 880p. The stock has risen by more than 7% since the beginning of this month.
Corporate news featured an asset swap involving Tesco in central Europe and the market liked what it heard as the supermarket giant advanced 2.5p to 309.5p following the agreement with French counterpart Carrefour.
Investors in British American Tobacco steadied their nerves over a ruling in Canada that cleared the way for the company to be sued for costs of smoking-related illnesses. They took the view that any claims could take 10 years to settle and BAT shares rose 13p to 1191p.
But the bad run for online poker giant PartyGaming showed no sign of ending as its shares lost a further 4% or 3.25p to stand at 84.25p.
Shares in Marks & Spencer initially rose to their highest level for three years following upgrades by brokers including Credit Suisse First Boston and Goldman Sachs, but later eased to be 3.5p lower at 373.5p.
Other clothing retailers were also faring poorly with Next losing 19p to 1392p, while Monsoon dropped 3% or 13p to 404p outside the top flight after it revealed sales growth had slowed to 3% recently because of the high street slowdown.
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