By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch Wolseley lands a buy rating
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- U.K. stocks rose Thursday, with shares
of the London Stock Exchange Group PLC driven higher after
financial results, but oil issues were hurt as oil prices
languished at multiyear lows.
The FTSE 100 index closed up 0.4% at 6,635.45, recouping
Wednesday's loss of 0.3%.
Oil everywhere: Oil stocks were in focus as Brent crude dropped
below $79 a barrel on London's ICE Futures exchange, trading at its
lowest level in four years. Shares of Tullow Oil dropped 5.8%, BP
PLC gave up 0.9% and Royal Dutch Shell PLC lost 2.1%, according to
LSE data. See more European movers.
Oil prices weren't able to find sustained support after Saudi
Arabia's Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi on Wednesday said the
international oil market and Saudi oil policy have been subject to
wild and inaccurate conjecture in recent weeks, but policy has
remained constant in the past few decades and hasn't changed
recently.
Al-Naimi's comments "left his country's attitude towards the
OPEC meeting due to take place in two weeks entirely unclear," said
Commerzbank commodities analysts in a Thursday note. "For as long
as the most influential OPEC producer continues to give the
impression that it will watch the price collapse without taking any
action, the price slide will continue."
Meanwhile, London Stock Exchange shares climbed 1.4% after the
company said flotations and fundraising activity helped push profit
higher in the first half of its financial year. Pretax profit at
LSE was 136.8 million pounds ($215.8 million), up from GBP116
million a year earlier.
LSE is working to close its planned purchase of asset manager
Frank Russell Co. before the end of this year, and the completed
deal will result in about one-third of LSE's revenue coming from
North America, said BESI Research in a note Thursday. "This, we
believe, is a key facet of the investment case for the LSE -- one
of diversification, not only by business type, but also by
geography."
Other gainers on Thursday included heating- and
plumbing-products maker Wolseley PLC , up 1.8%, following an
upgrade to buy from hold at Berenberg, which said the downward
revision in consensus earnings estimates over the last 18 months is
now over.
The next earnings upgrade cycle "will be driven by upside risk
to Wolseley's U.S. business, where the group can sustainably grow
market share. Complemented by underlying market recovery in U.S.,
residential and nonresidential construction, Wolseley is an
attractive proposition," said analysts Michael Watts and Robert
Muir.
SABMiller PLC shares finished up 1.2% after opening in the red.
The company said trading conditions will be tough in many of its
markets for the rest of the financial year. SABMiller, whose brands
include Peroni and Miller Genuine Draft, said half-year profit rose
to $1.97 billion from $1.71 billion a year earlier. Sales rose 2%
to $11.37 billion.
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