Footsie manufactures a rebound

A SURPRISE rise in UK factory output put the London market on the front foot yesterday, while progress on the bail-out of Spanish banks gave their British peers a bounce.

Angus Campbell, head of market analysis at Capital Spreads, said: “The Footsie snapped recent losses after a surprise jump in industrial and manufacturing activity caught the sceptics off guard and sent investors into buying mode.”

The FTSE 100 Index closed 36.7 points higher at 5,664.1, with Royal Bank of Scotland adding 2.5p to 208.8p and Barclays up 3.6p at 167p.

The miners also benefited from the improved sentiment in Europe with Vedanta Resources climbing 19p to 916.5p, Kazakhmys adding 6.5p to 723p and Xstrata rising 10.9p to 826.5p.

Utility group SSE was 27p higher at 1,445p after Investec upgraded it to “buy” and beefed up its target price. The broker said that, while by no means risk-free, the market may be underestimating the potential of the former Scottish & Southern Energy.

BAE Systems added 8.1p at 305p as traders speculated about orders it is likely to secure at Farnborough Air Show.

Among the day’s fallers were utilities Severn Trent and United after ministers raised the possibility of households being able to shop around for water supplies. Shares in the FTSE 100 pair were 4p and 2.5p lower at 1,695p and 679p respectively.

On the Alternative Investment Market, shares in Glasgow-based utility meter supplier Smart Metering Systems (SMS) soared nearly 12 per cent to 189p despite a plunge in profits at English rival Bglobal. SMS put out no announcement of its own but Bglobal said there were “huge opportunities” in the planned roll out of smart meters.

NEW YORK: Wall Street fell for a fourth day last night as more pessimism from US companies compounded worries that the sluggish global economy is taking its toll on US profit growth.

The Dow Jones industrial average slid 83.17 points, or 0.65 per cent, to end at 12,653.12 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index fell 10.99 points, or 0.81 per cent, to finish at 1,341.47. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 29.44 points, or 1.00 per cent, to end the day at 2,902.33.