London midday: UK stocks extends gains as markets track Wall Street higher

UK stocks extended their winning streak into the fourth day on Friday as a welcome, albeit late, Santa Rally kicked in following the recent sell-off.

The FTSE 100 was trading 0.3% higher at 6,486 by noon and has now gained nearly 5% since Tuesday.

“He left it late this year, but Santa finally provided a Christmas rally yesterday, after stability entered the previously volatile rouble and Brent crude oil, and positivity from US and Japan led to worldwide rallies,” said analyst Connor Campbell from Spreadex.

Massive gains were seen on Wall Street on Thursday night as markets continued to rise following comments made by Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen who said that policymakers “can be patient” when it comes to the first interest-rate hike.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average in particular finished the day up 2.4%, or 421 points - its biggest one-day gain in three years.

In another boost to markets, the Bank of Japan painted a bright picture of the economy as it maintained its stimulus, seven weeks after expanding the programme.

Oil prices rebounded on Friday after finishing at their lowest levels since May 2009 on the back of optimistic comments about future demand from Saudi Arabia’s oil minister. Brent futures for February delivery were up 1.5% cents at $60.15 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe exchange in London, after sliding to a new five-year low of $59.27 a barrel on Thursday.

Energy services sector tanks, but producers rise

Shares in the oil and gas services sector were hammered by comments from Goldman Sachs which repeated its ‘cautious’ rating in light of the recent collapse in crude prices. Analysts expect “significant cuts” to exploration and production capital expenditure over 2015 and 2016 and said that deflation “will be painful” for services companies.

Petrofac, Wood Group, Hunting and Amec Foster Wheeler were all lower. However, explorer and producers were performing well as crude rebounded slightly on Friday, with Tullow Oil, BHP Billiton and BP putting in decent gains.

Power generator and retailer SSE was in the red after admitting it has not won all the generation business it wanted in a UK energy generation capacity auction.

British American Tobacco was subdued after revealing it is to pay out $575m to settle a legacy litigation case with a company involved in the production and sale of asbestos-containing products in the 1980s. The agreement “brings this long running litigation to an end”, the company said.

Support services group Serco fell despite the news that police have ended their investigation into its contract to move prisoners from custody to courts without bringing charges against the company. Peel Hunt slashed its target for Serco’s shares from 265p to just 135p to take into account a proposed rights issue next year.

Housebuilders were broadly higher despite data showed that house prices declined in every UK city in November apart from Southampton, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Persimmon, Barratt Developments and Taylor Wimpey were all making gains.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,920.52 -0.21%
FTSE 100 6,485.91 +0.31%
FTSE 250 15,778.75 +0.29%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Tesco (TSCO) 182.65p +3.90%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 409.80p +3.22%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 744.00p +3.05%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,373.00p +3.04%
Fresnillo (FRES) 734.00p +2.59%
WPP (WPP) 1,328.00p +2.00%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 172.70p +1.59%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,349.00p +1.43%
Sage Group (SGE) 452.30p +1.34%
BP (BP.) 407.85p +1.32%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Old Mutual (OML) 185.10p -2.53%
SSE (SSE) 1,619.00p -1.76%
Sky (SKY) 885.00p -1.67%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,202.00p -1.64%
Next (NXT) 6,460.00p -1.52%
Shire Plc (SHP) 4,616.00p -1.41%
CRH (CRH) 1,514.00p -1.24%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 713.50p -1.18%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,074.00p -1.10%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,523.00p -1.08%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Nostrum Oil & Gas (NOG) 403.50p +6.18%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 53.45p +4.39%
Soco International (SIA) 297.10p +4.06%
Fisher (James) & Sons (FSJ) 1,183.00p +3.50%
esure Group (ESUR) 205.50p +3.01%
NMC Health (NMC) 483.00p +2.99%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 377.20p +2.98%
Henderson Group (HGG) 213.90p +2.59%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 310.50p +2.58%
Debenhams (DEB) 74.15p +2.49%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Serco Group (SRP) 155.40p -6.27%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 591.00p -3.82%
Hunting (HTG) 505.50p -3.25%
Poundland Group (PLND) 315.10p -3.25%
Polymetal International (POLY) 573.50p -2.47%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 276.90p -2.33%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 400.40p -2.25%
Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 800.50p -2.08%
EnQuest (ENQ) 38.00p -1.94%
Marston's (MARS) 137.60p -1.85%