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The FTSE closed down 8.8 points today at 5,411.9, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 29.6 points at 8,856.7.  It was an up-n-down day.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 85 points at 11,499, whilst the S&P500 was down 5 points at 1,279, and the Nasdaq down 11 points at 2,341.  The July non-farm payrolls report is due tomorrow, whis is expected to be poor.

Back here in London, it was BT Group that had the worst day, closing down 23.7p at 173.9.  This came after posting some poor 1st quarter figures. well, poor for a tech company of this size, anyway.  Earnings were up 1% to £1.43 bln, but 12 month forecats were left the same. 

The miners did well today, with Antofagasta closing up 25p at 578.5p after saying it produced 233,600 tonnes of copper in its first 6 motnhs this year, up over 10% on last year. Peer ENRC closed up 67.5p at 1,055, and Kazakhmys up 79p to 1,499 as a reaction. Staying with mining, Randgold Resources closed up 204p at 2,559p after better 2nd quarter profits, prompting two brokers to remind of their ‘buy’ stances on the African Gold miner.

On to the High Street, where Next closed down 41p at 954.5p after an SG Securities downgrade to ’sell’ from ‘hold’ after yesterday’s trading statement that stated the obvious, i.e.- that it was difficult in the High Street.  I say they’re lucky my missus still spends fortunes in there and with their Next catalogue.

On to the banks, where Lloyds TSB closed down nearly 11p at 292.25p after a Deutsche Bank downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’, whilst lowering its target to 350p, down from 525p. Peer HBOS, on the other hand, closed up over 19p at 290.5p after the bank’s write-downs didn’t look so bad, with 1st half to 30Jun pre-tax profit of £1.45 bln sounding ok, and the £1.1 bln of write-downs even better. Worse write-backs were expected.

On to pharmas, where AstraZeneca closed up 78p at 2,468p after decent 2nd qaurter results and raising its earnings estimates for the year. Peer Shire Pharma closed up 29.5p at 831.5p after also raising its 12 month forecasts after a decent 2nd quarter.

Food & Goods group Unilever closed down 117p to 1,393p after posting a rise of 6.8% on sales for its 2nd quarter, and that growth was on target for its 3% to 5% forecast for the year. Broker Panmore Gordon wasn’t so impressed though, and reiterated its ‘hold’ stance.

Publisher Reed Elsevier closed up 32.5p at 576.5p after saying its first half operating profit was up 12% and that it was on track to meet its 2008 targets despite market conditions. Broker Cazenove liked this, and repeated its ‘outperform’ satnce.

BSkyB closed up nearly 8p at just over 454p after its anual results looked as expected, and news that more new customers joined up in the 4th quarter also added to the joy.

Publisher Trinity Mirror closed up 3.25p at just over 86p after its 1st half figures were in-line, prompting a Cazenove upgrade to ‘in-line’ from ‘underperform’.

The FTSE 100 closed up 101.5 points at 5,420.7 today, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up almost 155 points at 8,886.3.  Insurance giants Admiral and Aviva helped London with some decent earnings news.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 115 points at 11,512, whilst the S&P500 was up 14 points at 1,277, and the Nasdaq up 11 points at 2,331.  News that the US Fed Res would help investment firms who were finding it ‘tight’ by extending credit helped Wall Street, as did news that employment was up for July too.

Back here in London, Admiral closed up 89p at 914p after figures showing 1st half profit up 16%, which was better than expected. Merrill Lynch, Citigroup & UBS all reiterated thier ‘buy’ stances on the insurer, whilst peer Aviva closed up almost 41p at 507.5p after also posting decent first half figures, which showed profit up 12%. Aviva added that is was doing a deal to reallocate surplus assets held by two with-profit funds.  Broker Cazenove reiterated its ‘outperform’ stance. Friends Provident closed up 4.8p at 86.3p after saying it had appointed Trevor Matthews from Standard Life Assurance as its new chief executive. The sector liked all this news, with Legal & General joining in the bouyant mood with a 5p rise to close at 98.5p.

Rexam closed up 33p at 380.5p after announcing a 61% rise in 1st half pre-tax profit, saying it had done well with its pricing and cost recovery program.  It added that 12-month figures would also be strong.  Broker Evolution reiterated its ‘buy’ stance, adding a 5-quid target for the beverage can maker.

Despite recent rollercoaster movement with the oil price fluctuation, airline British Airways closed up 14.5p at 263p after a Cazenove upgrade to ‘in-line’ from ‘underperform’, whilst Deutsche Bank upped its stance to ‘hold’ from ’sell’ after the airline’s news yesterday on the merger possibilities with Spanish carrier Iberia.

On to banks, where Lloyds TSB closed down 15p at 306p after announcing a 70% fall in 1st half pre-tax profits, mainly due to a £585m write-down on bad debt and other market reasons. Goldman Sachs responded by reminding everyone of its ’sell’ stance, also reminding everyone that there is a low divvy with this one.  Peer HBOS closed down 1.5p at just over 271p.

Confectionary group Cadburys gave some decent figures, with pre-tax profit up 46% to £223m, adding that currency rates had helped.  This was the first set of figures since it split from the beverage division. With revenue rise up above is hoped for 7% figure, the chocolate & confectionary giant said that it expects full-year revenue growth to be at the top end of its 4% to 6% target range, with its margins also being in line with expectations. The group has more plans, but said it will update investors at the time of its trading statement in October, but did up its interim divvy to 5.3p, up 6%.

On to housebuilders, where Bellway closed down 24p at 491.5p afetr a Goldman Sachs downgrade to ’sell’ from ‘neutral’, whilst peers saw some profit taking after recent recoveries, with Taylor Wimpey closing down 2.25p at 42.5p, and Barratts closing down 5p at a quid.

Arm Holdings closed up 3.5p at 95.5p after announcing 1st half pre-tax profits of £24.19m, which was up about £0.34m from last year. This is quite good from the chip designer under such market conditions.

UK energy group Drax closed down 14p at 719p after a Goldman Sachs downgrade to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’.
 
Provident Financial closed up 74.5p at 894.5p after after the British consumer lender announced a 34% rise in 1st half profit, adding news that its customer numbers were also up 7% at its core consumer credit division. A WH Ireland upgrade to ‘outperform’ from ‘market perform’ followed.

The FTSE 100 closed up 6.6 points today at 5,319.2, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 14.7 points at 8,731.4.  Weaker oil helped both sides of the Atlantic.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up 128 points at 11,259, whilst the S&P500 was up 13 points at 1,247, and the Nasdaq up 43 points at 2,307.

Back here in London, despite Ryanair’s poor announcement and news, British Airways closd up 14p at 248.5p after saying it was back in talks with Spanish flag carrier Iberia about a merger.  This would be a share deal, where BA would end up with 2/3rds of the new joint company.  Whilst any deal would take a couple of months to come to a formal agreement, both airlines are supposed to be in favour of the deal in principle.  With a KLM and Air France deal a few years ago, it doesn’t look like there could be any real opposition to the merger.  BA has around 42k staff, whilsy Iberia 22k.  Savings would probably include some job reductions in the new joint Co.

On to mining, where Vedanta Resources closed up 37p at 1,889 after its 1st quarter figures came out better than expected, with an EBITDA of UYS$739m for 3 motnhs to 30June, which was about $44m better than last year. Others did well too, with Anto closing up 8.5p at 548.5p, Anglo up 50p at 28-quid, and erican ending 50 pence firmer at 2,800, and Xstrata up 76p at 3,435p.

On to the banks, where there was still some cynic pressure. Barclays closed down 14p at just shy of 323p, RBS down 5.5p at just shy of 201p, and HBOS down almost 15p at just shy of 273p.

On to the oil heavyweights, where the drop in the price of the black stuff showed in the share prices.  BP closed down almost 13p at just shy of 507p, despite posting massive profits. The divvy being only 3.5% wasn’t taken so well, though.  Looks like all the good news was already built in to the share price there, then.

On to the High Street, where supermarket giant Tesco closed down 2.1p at 373.4p after yesterday’s news that it had purchased RBS’s 50% holding of Tesco Personal Finance for £950m.

Inchcape was the biggest faller, down 37 pence at 258-3/4, after the company said sales growth was slowing and profit for the year would be in line with last year. Brewin Dolphin downgraded the group to ’sell’ from ‘add’ and Panmure Gordon cut its rating on Inchcape to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’.

On to the housebuilders, where Persimmons closed down 1.5p at just shy of 312p after a Panmore Gordon downgrade to ’sell’ from ‘hold’ citing fundamentals. Peers did better, with Taylor Wimpey up 1.5p at just shy of 45p, and Bovis Homes up nearly 7p at just shy of 346p.

The FTSE 100 closed down 87.6 points at 5,362.3, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 182.6 points at 9,007.2.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was about 134 points at 11,498, whilst the S&P500 was down about 15 points at 1,267, and the Nasdaq off 23 points at 2,303.  Some weaker than hoped results from a few of the major companies didn’t help Wall Street today so far.

Back here in London, what with the oil price down abouit 20-bucks in 2 weeks it was the oil heavyweights that were down. BP was down 9.25p at 512.25p, RD Shell down 36p at 1,790, and BG Group down 72p to close at 1,068p.  BG actually said earlier today that it will be selling its Contact Energy as part of a takeover bid, and that its 2nd quarter profits to 30June were up to £807m, which was better than expectations.

With metal prices down the so were the heavyweights.  ENRC was down 66p at 949p, Xstrata down 207p at 3,215p, BHP down 76p at 1,540p, Lonmin down 154p at 2,415, and Vedanta down 93p at 1,791.
 
On to the banks, where Barclays closed down 4p at 348p, HBOS down 3.5p at 301.5p, Lloyds TSB down 8.5p at 338p, and Bradford & Bingley bucked the trend by closing up 3.5p at 59.5p after media news it had raised £2.5 bln in funds.

Despite oil falling back, the airlines didn’t seem to do well.  British Airways closed down 21.25p at 242p on profit taking, whilst peer easyJet closed down 37.5p at 332.5p after saying full year pre-tax profit would be about £110m to £120m, which is worse than originally expected.

Scottish & Southern Energy closed down 55p at 1,390.5p after saying it reckons that profits for the 1st 6 months will be substantially lower than the 2 halves last year.

B&Q owner Kingfisher closed up 7.6p at 124.3 after saying sales and growth looked back on track, which was surprising. It still remains cautious.  As it should do.

On to supermarkets, with Tesco closing down 6.8p at 376.5, Sainsburys down 3.5p at 308p, and Morrisons was down 9p at just shy of 265p.

Rolls-Royce added 2-1/2 pence to 371-1/4 after announcing an 8 percent rise in underlying half-year pretax profit and said it is confident of delivering profitable growth and positive cash flow for the full year.

Yell Group gave better than expected figures, closing up 8p at 79p.

The FTSE 100 closed up 85.8 points at 5,449.9, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 207.2 points at 9,189.8.  The banks led the way.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up about 43 points at 11,646, whilst the S&P500 was up nearly 10 points at 1,286, and the Nasdaq up nearly 30 points at 2,333.  News from hamburger giant McDonald’s that they were back in profit for the 2nd quarter was taken well.  This was mostly due to the sale of their gourmet sandwich chain, apparently.  There were earnings of US$1.19 bln, up from a loss of US$711.7m for the same period last year.  Other giants, including telecom AT&T, Beverage PepsiCo, and aeroplane manuafacturer Boeing all reported earnings that were better than expected.

Back here in London, what with oil falling back and the US news, the market was bouyant.  The banks led the way, with HBOS closing up 44p at 305p after rumours that Spanish banking giant BBVA is sniffing with intent to bid.  Peers followed up, with Barclays up over 37p at 352p, RBS up over 22p at 221.25p, and Lloyds TSB up 26.5p at 346.5p.

Staaying with financials, insurance did ok too, with Standard Life closing up 15.5p at 232.5p after a Goldman Sachs ‘buy’ rating, whilst Friends Provident closed up 10.5p at 90.6p after also receiving a Goldman Sachs ‘buy’ rating.

On to oil, or fuel, where the big users enjoyed the price of the black stuff now at US$127 bbl.  That’s 20-bucks down on the peak a week or two ago.  British Airways closed up 17p at 263.25p, whilst peer easyJet closed up nearly 32p at 370p, and cruise ship operator Carnival closed up 102p at 1,889. 

Staying with oil, BP reacted to the lower price of a barrell by closing down nearly 6p at just shy of 522p, whilst BG Group actually closed up 22p at 1,140p as some decent 2nd quarter results are expected tomorrow.

On to mining, where metal prices pulled back causing the majors to follow.  Anglo closed down 79p at 2,747 after de Beers, the diamond major, which it owns 45% of, said that the economic downturn was effecting diamond sales and would continue to do so.  Peers fell too, with ENRC down 33p at 1,041p, Lonmin down 93p at 2,569p, and Ferrexpo down over 12p at 263.25p.

The housebuilders did well, with Barratts up over 19p at 110p, and Taylor Wimpey up over 6p at 50p. 
 
Tate & Lyle closed down over 18p at just shy of 426p after saying pre-tax profits are roughly in-line with last year, but added that the whole general deterioration of economic conditions and the rise in raw materials is maaking life more difficult.

Inchcape closed down nearly 4p at 340.5p after SG Securities gave a ’sell’ rating as its first stance on the car delaership, saying the company’s acquisitions had lowered its rate of return.

Moneysupermarket.com jumped over 15p to close at 84.25p after saying it had rejected a takeover approach.  No other details are known.

Daily Mail & General Trust closed up 27p at 339.25p after Merrill Lynch and Panmure Gordon reiterated their ‘buy’ ratings in the company, despite the newspaper group saying advertising revenue was still down.

Good morning all

Cable had us all prepared for the big break of 1.9900 but this never materialised. EUR falling and GBP finding support due to a 7, 1, 1 decision on the minutes.

Very interesting stage of the cycle now.

Dan

08:27:23 {Surgeon} gold +27pips

08:50:50 {peterjones887<FR>} +55 GY

08:56:02 {cako<EN>} scalped a bit of EUR and cable 10 pips each

09:06:16 {cako<EN>} cable +12 and +20

09:06:45 {Vampire_Villian<EN>} cable +10

09:23:54 {cako<EN>} USDJPY +10 pips

09:43:30 {Tonyxx} 5pips each on £$ and e$ and 30 points on ftse

10:08:49 {cako<EN>} anyway +18 PIPS on EURUSD

10:25:02 {Tonyxx} another 5 pips on cable and 13 on ftse

10:41:59 {Jeremy_W<EN>} -20 cable and + 20 swissy.

10:43:27 {cako<EN>} +22 EUR USD

10:45:34 {cako<EN>} 40 pips is enough

10:46:46 {Honest_Bill_(aka_William)<EN>} EU +21 Crude +4 (got scared and missed out on the next +100

10:47:03 {cako<EN>} EUR +40, Cable +35 - Enough for today for me

 10:47:42 {cako<EN>} and USDJPY +10

10:47:48 {cako<EN>} so 85 total

10:48:14 {phil} took 24 pips on eur/usd

10:51:31 {rax} + 53 ftse

10:52:05 {peterjones887<FR>} gy +65

10:53:00 {zman} banked 24 points

10:54:27 {cako<EN>} series, EUR +18 +32, USDJPY +10, Cable +12 +20something

10:56:09 {John_M} €/$ +30

10:57:53 {Vampire_Villian<EN>} 38 + eur/usd

11:05:38 {Vampire_Villian<EN>} YOU GUYS HAVE THOUGHT ME MORE THAN I COULD OF EVER IMAGINED. THANKS FROM THE NIGHTSTALKER

The FTSE 100 closed down 40.2 points today at 5,364.1, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down almost 63 points at 8,982.6.  The FTSE 100 recovered about 80 points from its low of the session, though.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was actually up 55 points at 11,522, despite being lower after oil price worries, as well as this hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico that could threaten supplies of the black stuff.  Other earnings news had also caused a negative opening, but after an hour or two the positive sentiment returned, with investors noting the last two or three trading updates and figures that matter not being as bad as feared, with the exception of American Express, of course.

Back here in London, though, despite recovering from its lows, the FTSE was held down by the banks and also with Vodafone, which gave a poor forecast. 

Vodafone closed down over 20p at 129p after saying it expects full year figures to be at the low end of its forecasted outlook range. A Collins Stewart downgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ was the response, saying that it would expects peers in the sector to pull back as a reaction. 

As mentioned earlier, the banks were under pressure again after the US news from Wachovia today, which was added to the Amex news yesterday.  Barclays was down over 9p at just shy of 315p, RBS down 4p at 199p, Lloyds TSB down nearly 6p at 320p, and HBOS down 3.5p at 261p.  No news on what the underwriters are going to do with the £3.8 bln worth of shares they are obliged to take.

Carrying on from this morning, Enterprise Inns ended the day down over 46p at 299.5p after saying pub beer sales were continuing to decline, and adding that they are also giving some breathing space and help to the licencees, all of which will effect the bottom line this year.  Peer Punch Taverns was down over 25p at 240p as a reaction, with Mitchells & Butler closing down over 10p at 247.5p, JD Wetherspoon down almost 10p at 226.5p, and Greene King down 24.5p at 500.5p.

With oil falling back, the explorers bucked the expected trend did ok.  Tullow Oil closed up 6.5p at 780p, whilst Cairn Energy closed up 161p at 2,744p, and Soco International up 94p at 1,441.

The oil price backing off helped the big users, with British Airways closing up 7.25p at 246.25p, and cruise ship operator Carnival closing up a healthy 83p at 1,808p.

On to mining, where some sniffing with intent of a bid for Lonmins help them close up 131p at 2,662 on the rumours and speculation.

Plumbing supplier Wolseley closed down 9.25p at just shy of 329p after reports that it is struggling to meet bank commitments and such like.

On to High Street food retail, where Sainsburys was up nearly 14p at 310p after news that Robert Tchenguiz, the property magnate, was now up to almost 122m shares in the group, which is just about 7%. 

Chemical group Johnson Matthey closed up 70p at 1,738p after a decent trading update, saying its 1st quarter revenue was up 33% on last year, with pre-tax profit up 22%.  A Merrill Lynch reminder of its ‘buy’ stance helped too.

Severn Trent was up again, closing at 1,398p, up 51p on the day, after saying that its trading was in-line with expectations, but did add that it reckons that a decline in useage could effect revenues by £12m to £14m this year.

Birmingham based Chocolate and confectionary king, Cadburys, closed up 29.5p at 632p after a Dresdner Kleinwort upgrade to ‘hold’ from ‘reduce’.

Morning all

USDCHF has been very slow but perfectly setup.

Many of you trading Indices short this am and still holding. Well done.

Godders is student of the day. Excellent trading.

Dan

08:57:43 {rax} short dow…. 80 pips

 09:16:44 {Jeremy_W<EN>} +30 on crude

09:23:07 {rax} 66 pips crude

09:26:39 {Bill_K} + 25 on Crude.

09:50:03 {Tonyxx} cashed 100 points on crude just now

09:56:28 {rax} another 30-35 points

10:07:56 {Billy_P<EN>}  binned usd/chf -8

10:16:40 {cako<EN>} OK, im out of CHF at 64 with +1

10:24:29 {Godders} EURUSD            +17

USDCHF         +20

EURCHF         +10

USDJPY          +11

EURJPY          -11

FTSE   +19

DAX    +20

YM      +19

10:27:15 {rax} probably will still hold them…. I have been in the ftse and dax since yesterday

10:31:26 {Gordon} took 2 pips on Yen and 14 on dax

10:34:02 {Jeremy_W<EN>} +12 Dax, should’ve have closed a bit earlier missed my tp of 30 by 2 pips.

10:34:35 {bob} + 4 $ chf  + 15 ftse

10:39:17 {Chris..} +20 GU +76 on 1/2 EU

10:40:00 {peterjones887<FR>} +20 GU +10 UCHF

10:44:42 {Gordon} 22/07/2008 (Private): Hi dan going to log off for a bit, i’ll come back later before the end.  By the way made 5 trades yesterday made over 100 pips, and then those 2 trades today up 15 today so far.  Great work mate….later G

11:09:42 {peterjones887<FR>} +20 uy

The FTSE was down 65 points this morning at 5,340, whilst the FTSE 250 was down 145 points at 8,900. 

Last night over the pond the DJI closed at 11,467.34, down over 29 points, whilst the S&P500 closed down less than a point at 1,260 and the Nasdaq down 3.25 points at 2,279.53.  American Express gave some poor news.

In the Far East today the Nikkei 225 closed up 381.26 points at 13,184.96, whilst in Hong Kong the Hang seng was down just under 10 points at 22,524 by lunchtime chow time.

Back here in London it was the banks who fell back, with the news from Amex spreading this side of the pond.  Barclays was down 14p at 310p, RBS down 6.6p at 196.4p, Lloyds TSB down 11p at 315p, and HBOS down 6p at 258.5p.

On to telecoms, where Vodafone gave a poor update saying that full year figures would be at the lower end of forecasts resulting in a big fall to 132p, down 17p this morning.  The mobile major blaming economic weakness and equipment revenue down.

Enterprise Inns was down 29p at 317p after saying lower pub sales in beer, coupled with extra help to licensees, are squeezing earnings.

Plumbing supplier Wolseley was down 13p at 325p on reports it’s struggling with bank deadlines and arrangements.

With oil price rising, so did the heavyweights.  BP was up 8p at 529.5p, RD Shell up 22p at 1,851, and Tullow Oil up 8p at 781.5p.

With more oil worries due to a mexican hurricane, the big users suffered.  British Airways was down 7p at 232p, whilst cruise ship operator carnival was down 45p at 1,681.

The miners were also back in favour as metal prices rose.  ENRC was up 12p at 1,077, Lonmin up 32p at 2,563, BHP up 22p at 1,668, Rio up 17p at 5,237, and Xstrata up 30p at 3,560p.  RBS also gave Xstrata an upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’.
 
Severn Trent was up 15p at 1,363 after saying trading was as expected, but added its revenues would be down by £12m to £14m for the year.

Property developer Great Portland Estates was down 7p at 344p after saying its NAv was 538p, which is over 16% down on last year.

Chemical group Johnson Matthey was up 66p at 1,734 after saying it has made a “strong start” to the new financial year with 1st quarter revenues up 33% and pre-tax profit up 22% on last time out.

The FTSE ended the day up 27.9 points at 5,404.3, whilst the FTSE 250 closed up 80.8 points at 9,045.5. initial concern this morning over the HBOS rights issue was brushed aside by lunchtime, and half decent news from the US helped.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up 6 points at 11,503, whilst the S&P500 was up 3 points at 1,263, and the Nasdaq up 5 points at 2,288. The Dow had started much better, but ‘fade the gappers’ played it well and took profit on the bell trade. Results news from the Bank of America had come in better than expected, with a US$3.41 bln income for the 2nd quarter, although down from the same period last year.

Back here in London, the banks did ok, despite the early reaction to HBOS news that only 8.3% of the rights issue stock had been taken up by shareholders. HSBC closed up 20.5p at 814.5, mainly on the weekend news of their talks with some Chinese Investment group that may stick a big lump of cash in to the bank. Barclays closed up nearly 4p at 324p, RBS up 5.4p at 203p, whilst HBOS still kept some hangover from the rights issue news, closing down 17.5p at 264.5p. As we said this morning, the underwriters have aboput £3.7 bln of the £4 bln shares to take up and place etc.

On to oil, where the black stuff was at about US$131 bbl. This helped the oil heavyweights, with RD Shell closing up 11p at 1,831, Cairn Energy up 21p at 2,583, and the oil services company Wood Group closed up 15.25p at 402p.

On to mining, where metal prices helped the majors. Kazakhmys closed up 66p at 1,418p, BHP closed up 46p at 1,646p, Rio up 1150p at 5,220p, Lonmin up 121p at 2,531, Vedanta Resources up 69p at 1,907p, and Ferrexpo closed up 20.5p at 290.5p.

On to retail, where Next closed down 17p at 1,015, Morrisons down 2p at 264p, as retailers stood together with a stance against developers and landlords on paying rent monthly, instead of quarterly up front.

On to telecoms, where Vodafone closed down nearly 3p at 149.25p, with some aprehension ahead of the up coming results for the 1st quarter. BT Group closed up nearly 2p at 205.25p after an RBS upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’, although cut the target to 280p, down from 310p, on fundamentals.

On to food producer and retail supplier Unilever, who closed up 5p at 1,446p after saying it had sold its Bertolli olive oil and vinegar business to Grupo SOS for €630m.

Severn Trent closed up 44p at 1,347p after a Citigroup upgrade to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’, adding a 1,545p target, up from 1,485, citing fundamentals.

On to the housebuilders, where the rebound continues. Taylor Wimpey closed up another 3.25p at 48.5p, and Barratts up nearly 10p at 93.5p. A good day.

Michael Page International closed up 14p at 265p after some good results elsewhere in the sector.

As we mentioned this morning, Hikma Pharmaceuticals had a poor day after saying it will lose US$6m in the first 6 months, with $5m of that due to chargebacks and refunds etc. The shares closed down over 82p, just shy of 427p.