Piagi reports on the market 1st feb 2012
Posted by Piagis Shoutout on Wed, Feb 01, 2012 @ 07:52 AM
Rates page 01.02.2012
U.K. Stocks Rise as China Manufacturing Expands; BP Shares Gain
Piagi reports as stocks in the U.K. rose for the second day, as a report showed that China’s manufacturing industries unexpectedly expanded last month, adding to optimism that growth in the world’s second-largest economy will hold firm.
We saw as BP Plc climbed 2.4 percent following a judge that ruled that Europe’s second-biggest oil company doesn’t have to pay any punitive damages awarded against Halliburton Co. from the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Johnson Matthey Plc surged 3.3 percent as the producer of a third of all autocatalysts reported increased profit in its fiscal third quarter.
The benchmark FTSE 100 Index added 72.64, or 1.3 percent, to 5,754.25 at 1:25 p.m. in London. The gauge rose 2 percent in January for its second consecutive month of gains. The advance extended its rally from last year’s lowest level to 15 percent as the European Central Bank boosted lending to banks and U.S. economic reports exceeded estimates. The FTSE All-Share Index climbed 1.3 percent today, while Ireland’s ISEQ Index increased 1 percent.
“The key element for the rally is the improving economic picture,” Otto Waser, chief investment officer at Research & Asset Management AG, told Bloomberg Television from Zurich. “The market has long underestimated the three-year liquidity program of the ECB. That has been quite the bazooka that the market had been looking for.”
China’s Manufacturing Expands
In China, the official purchasing managers’ index increased to 50.5 in January from 50.3 in December, exceeding the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey for a reading below the 50 level that divides expansion from contraction. The data may have been distorted by a weeklong holiday. A separate gauge from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics rose to 48.8. India’s manufacturing grew at the fastest pace in eight months.
BP climbed 2.1 percent to 480.85 pence, making the biggest contribution to the FTSE 100’s advance. U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans also ruled yesterday that BP will not have to cover any civil penalties against Halliburton under the Clean Water Act. The blowout of the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico led to the world’s largest accidental oil spill.
Johnson Matthey climbed 3.3 percent to 2,118 pence after saying underlying profit before tax in the three months through December surged 34 percent from a year earlier to 104.3 million pounds ($164 million). Sales, excluding precious metals, rose 22 percent. Johnson Matthey, which produced the world’s first catalysts in 1974, has benefited from the increased use of the pollution-cutting devices in Asia and the U.S.
ICAP Plc rallied 6.3 percent to 357 pence even after the world’s largest broker of transactions between banks said pretax profit for the fiscal year ending March 31 will be at the “upper end” of the current range of analyst estimates.
Bank shares were among the biggest gainers in western European markets today. Barclays Plc rallied 5.1 percent to 223.35 pence, extending its 21 percent surge in January. HSBC gained 1.8 percent to 539.1 pence.
