By Simon Kennedy
U.K. shares rose in the final session of the week, with banks
and insurance stocks leading a broad-based advance.
Among banking stocks, Barclays (BCS) rose 3%, Lloyds Banking
Group (LYG) climbed 2.4% and HSBC (HBC) added 6.7%.
In the insurance sector, Old Mutual added 2.1% and Prudential
gained 1.2%.
More broadly, the main U.K. FTSE 100 Index closed up 1.1%, or
41.62 points, to 3,753.68. The index has gained about 7% over 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 started higher Friday but turned lower a few hours
into the session.
Among other sectors, mining stocks rose as commodity prices
gained.
Xstrata gained 10.3% and BHP Billiton gained 2.2%.
Pub chain JD Wetherspoon climbed about 12.5% 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 2.2%.
SABMiller added 2.5% 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 about 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 4.7% after Morgan Stanley cut its price target, saying the
market is underestimating the pressure European advertising
agencies will face on their revenues into 2010.