logo-loader

Wall Street earnings boost FTSE 100 as it nears 6,700

Published: 12:06 01 Aug 2013 EDT

no_picture_pai

Record highs on Wall Street buoyed shares in the UK’s most valuable companies as banks and mining stocks hoisted the Footsie higher.

Corporate earnings from global heavyweights such as consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble, the company behind Ariel washing powder and Duracell batteries, and oil majors Chesapeake Energy and ConocoPhillips stirred the market. 

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones indices both hit all-time highs on Wall Street on the back of a statement from the Federal Reserve, which remained dovish over its bond buying plans.

After the two-day meeting, the Fed did not say when it would begin tapering its $85bn a month asset purchase programme.

State-backed banking giant Lloyds (LON:LLOY) boosted Britain's blue chip index on Thursday as it returned to profit in the second quarter.

Shares rose over 7% to stand at 74p after the bank came out of the red and into the black, reporting half year profits of £2.1bn.

The banking giant also signalled an imminent return to the resumption of dividend payments, which helped shares in fellow state-owned lender RBS (LON:RBS) 5% higher.

Footsie rose 0.9% to 6,682 as sentiment was also bolstered by positive data from China, which lifted mining stocks.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England kept monetary policy on hold, leaving the 0.5% rate and stimulus programme unchanged.

All eyes tomorrow are on the US jobs data for July, which will shine the spotlight on America’s economic recovery.

The biggest loser on the FTSE 100 was temporary power provider Aggreko (LON:AGK), which shed 7.7% after it reported first half numbers.

Despite a rise in revenues, the firm remains cautious on its outlook.

Shell (LON:RDSB) joined it at the foot of the table as even its CEO Peter Voser admitted the second quarter numbers were not up to scratch.

Among the small cap risers was New World Oil & Gas (LON:NEW), whose shares put on 11% as it revealed a second drill ready target has been outlined on the Danica Resources project in Denmark.

This project, called North Rødby, is located 75 kilometres from the producing fields – featuring Zechstein reservoirs – in Germany.

North Rødby is estimated to contain 60mln barrels of recoverable prospective oil resources in the Zechstein target, and 320bln cubic feet of gas in a Rotliegendes target.

Empyrean Energy (LON:EME) shares edged up as it notched up another solid production quarter in Texas, while testing of the potentially significant Austin Chalk zone has started.

Empyrean had an interest in 91 wells in at the end of June at the Sugarloaf project, 12 more than at end March. 

Sugarloaf is on the Eagle Ford shale in Texas and is operated by Marathon Oil.

Nigeria-focused Eland Oil & Gas (LON:ELA) shares started well but profit taking dragged it down by the close after it unveiled a new reserves report for the OML40 asset which shows a near doubling of proven reserves.

The new assessment is based on additional information about the block which was received from Shell, the asset’s former owner.

With a 99% increase, OML40 now has 38.2mln barrels of proven reserves, at the same time proved and probable reserves rose 14% to 81.8mln barrels. 

Leni Gas and Oil (LON:LGO) lifted slightly after it increased its capacity for oil sales from the Goudron field in Trinidad.

ReNeuron Group (LON:RENE) shares also advanced after it was awarded a £1.5mln grant from the UK government-backed Technology Strategy Board (TSB).

The stem cell therapy specialist said the money will go towards funding the company’s Phase II clinical trial of its ReN001 stem cell therapy for disabled stroke patients.

Elsewhere, Forte Energy (LON:FTE, ASX:FTE) saw its shares dip 10% after it reported second quarter results.

The company continues to progress its strategy to double resources near to the A238 uranium prospect in Mauritania, it said, and also revealed it is reviewing its overheads to reduce expenditure.

ARway.ai announces multiple new SaaS developer contracts in both the United...

ARway.ai (CSE:ARWY, OTCQB:ARWYF) Chief Executive Officer Evan Gappelberg joined Steve Darling from Proactive to announce multiple new SaaS developer sign-ups for its augmented reality experience platform, focusing on AR indoor navigation. These partnerships represent significant milestones in...

1 hour, 21 minutes ago