Tuesday’s market close: TalkTalk rings up 10% shares surge

Telecoms shares were in demand today, with TalkTalk chalking up a 10 per cent rise and BSkyB recovering some of yesterday’s lost ground.

TalkTalk, which was spun out from Carphone Warehouse in 2010, climbed 25.5p to end the day at 275.4p after it raised its revenue growth guidance thanks to strong demand from its television customers.

BSkyB rose by 11p to 840p as it regained some of its composure following the loss of European football rights to rival BT, which increased by 3p to 377.1p.

The wider FTSE 100 index was virtually flat, just 1.58 points lower at 6,726.79, as fears over the tapering of the United State’s huge asset-buying programme continued to weigh on investors, despite New York’s Dow Jones Industrial Average hitting an all-time high overnight.

Bill McNamara, a technical analyst at Charles Stanley, said: “The UK index is still within striking distance of its recent high and there is little in the current technical picture to suggest that it is about to fall away.”

Royal Bank of Scotland fell 2.4 per cent or 8.2p to 331.6p after analysts at Goldman Sachs removed the stock from their conviction “buy” list and cut its rating to “neutral”. Rival analysts at Nomura was also cautious, estimating fair value for RBS at 285p, some 14 per cent below its current market price.

Shares in regional airline Flybe continued to climb – up 9.1 per cent or 8.75p at 104.5p – following yesterday’s announcement of job cuts.

Insurance giant RSA – which had been a heavy faller during yesterday’s session following its second profits warning in a week – pared back some of its losses, climbing 1.3p to 109.4p.

IndigoVision, the Edinburgh-based digital CCTV systems maker, enjoyed a 5.7 per cent boost – up 17.5p at 322.5p – following the firm’s annual general meeting today.