By Simon Kennedy
U.K. shares jumped higher in the final session of the week, with
banks and insurance stocks leading a broad-based rise.
Among banking stocks, Barclays (BCS) rose around 11%, Lloyds
Banking Group (LYG) climbed 3% and HSBC (HBC) added nearly 5%.
In the insurance sector, Old Mutual added 4.4% and Prudential
gained 2.5%.
More broadly, the main U.K. FTSE 100 Index climbed 1.7%, or
63.15 points, to 3,775.21. The index has gained around 7% over the
course of the week, posting gains in four of the weeks five
sessions.
The rise in financial stocks followed strong gains for U.S.
markets Thursday, helped by Bank of America Corp. CEO Ken Lewis'
comments that the group will post a profit in 2009 and won't need
further government funding.
U.S. stocks were mostly higher in early trading Friday.
Among other sectors, mining stocks moved higher as commodity
prices gained and the oil majors also rose. Shares in Royal Dutch
Shell (RDSA) rose 1.6% and rival BP (BP) climbed 1.8%.
Among miners, Rio Tinto (RTP) and BHP Billiton both rose over
4%.
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon climbed around 14% in afternoon trading
after it announced that comparable sales in the six weeks to March
8 rose 1.9% and total sales rose 5.6%.
Profit in the six months to Jan. 26 was down 5.5%, but revenue
for the period was around 6.5% higher. The group also provided some
reassurance over its financing with the announcement of a new
20-million pound bank facility from Abbey Santander.
"JD Wetherspoon is materially outperforming a poor market and is
growing in absolute terms. It is turning up the heat on its
competitors and to be increasing like-for-like sales in the current
environment is a remarkable achievement," said analysts at BlueOar
Securities in London.
Shares in rival pub operator and brewer Greene King climbed
around 4%.
SABMiller was up 2.7% after it announced that its CR Snow joint
venture in China has agreed to acquire the brewing assets of
Shangdong Hupo Brewery in a $42 million deal.
Outside the top index, shares in Irish media group Independent
News & Media surged around 60% after the newspaper publisher
said CEO Anthony O'Reilly will retire on May 7.
Anthony O'Reilly is the largest shareholder in the firm, which
publishes The Independent newspaper in the U.K., with a 28.5%
stake. He will be succeeded by his son Gavin O'Reilly, currently
chief operating officer.
Shares in advertising group WPP were among the decliners --
losing 2.1% after Morgan Stanley cut its price target, saying the
market is underestimating the pressure European advertising
agencies will face on their revenues into 2010.