FTSE seeks to end week stronger |
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| Strategic Finance | |
| Written by Gary Howes | |
| Friday, 22 May 2009 | |
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London’s top stocks are starting to edge upwards after a flat start - miners are proving strong.
The FTSE 100 is up 0.61% or 26.54 points by mid morning. British Airways is however providing downward pressure on the FTSE. The airline said it will focus on cutting capacity and keeping a lid on costs after weak economic conditions and high fuel costs sent the airline tumbling into the red in the year to March 31. It posted a pre-tax loss of £401m, compared with a profit of £922m over the previous year. Revenue climbed to £8.99bn from £8.76bn. LON:BAY stock was down 4.61% by mid morning. Good news for Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) as the bank appears to be heading upwards following a disastrous two days trading. This morning shares in Lloyds Banking are up 4.20% as investors come in to pick up shares at reduced prices. Aviva (LON:AV) is up sharply as news breaks that the financial services company will be on the lookout for acquisition opportunities. In an interview with Dow Jones Newswires, the CEO of the Aviva said the company will continue conserving cash to protect itself from continued financial market volatility, but will be looking at acquisition opportunities "as we go through the next six months." "From the middle of last year, we have been clear that we were not interested in mergers and acquisitions. That's because valuing assets has virtually become impossible and secondly, funding has also been difficult," Andrew Moss said. Aviva stock is up 6.41% by midmorning. Miners are going well after a volatile few days. Rio Tinto is up on reports in Australia that there may be changes to the deal with Chinalco to appease both regulators and major shareholders. ENRC, Vedanta and Xstrata are also going well.
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