Clare Hutchison’s stock market round-up
THE City celebrated the prospect of five more years under David Cameron today and piled into shares, particularly for banks, housebuilders and utilities , which a ppeared t o have escaped punishment at the hands of Ed Miliband and Labour.
With the Conservatives back in charge, the possibility of dismantling Britain’s largest banks, and further hikes in the bank levy faded, helping state-backed lenders Lloyds and Royal Bank of
Scotland to move close to the top of the FTSE 100. Lloyds rose 4.68p to 86.81p, and RBS climbed 14.9p to 347.1p.
British Gas-owner Centrica jostled for the top spot, jumping 17.4p to 274.8p, with a government-imposed price freeze no longer on the cards.
SSE wasn’t far behind with a 70p gain to 1633.5p.
Investors also backed housebuilders as existing government policies to open up access to the housing market looked set to remain. Barratt Developments was the chief beneficiary, increasing 28.5p to 541.50p, followed by Persimmon, up 86p at 1739p.
Sports Direct was relieved it no longer has to face Miliband’s threat to end zero-hours contracts. Shares rose 25.5p to 650.25p.
G4S was up 4.7p at 290.10p as the City bet it would be more likely to retain its government contracts under a Tory-led administration.
The FTSE 100 bounced 117.89 points to 7004.84, but analysts cautioned that the optimism might be short-lived.
Changes at the top helped both Pay-
point and Man Group notch up gains. Man Group rose 3.8p to 182.80p after announcing the departure of its chairman Jon Aisbitt after eight years in the hot seat. The hedge fund also said funds under management were up 7% to $78.1 billion (£50.41 billion).
Paypoint, the UK’s leading consumer payments processor that is expected to benefit from the rise of mobile payment, jumped 63.5p to 916.25p after its chairman Warren Tucket quit. Board member Nick Wiles will replace him.
But it wasn’t good news all round. City stockbroker Numis suffered after reporting a more than 28% drop in first half profits to £11.9 million, despite raising £1.1 billion for clients including recently floated Autotrader and Revolution Bars. Its shares plunged 16.5p to 241.375.