Headline shares finished the day higher after a solid day despite a dip into negative territory during afternoon trading. At close the FTSE 100 was up 20.1 points, off highs at 5237.92. Over on Wall Street, the Dow was trading down 32 points at 10,372.6, this was following disappointing housing figures and building permits not meeting expectations in the US.

LONDON MARKETS:

Those shares ending the day higher included Shire (LON:SHP), up 2.45% at 1462p, RBS, up 2.15% at 45.1p and Old Mutual (LON:OML), up 2.13% at 115.3p. On the flip side, those which finished in the red on the day included Severn Trent (LON:SVT), down 4.14% at 1303p, Inmarsat (LON:ISAT), down 3.78% at 538.5p and United Utilities (LON:UU.), down 3.75% at 538.5p

BP (LON:BP.) bosses are due to meet US President Barack Obama later today. The President vowed to make BP pay for the Gulf of Mexico spill in his first TV address to the nation since he became president. "I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness," the president informed viewers. BP shares traded flat at close standing at 337p.

Shire Pharmaceutical was prominent on the leaders board for most of the afternoon after being rated as a buy at Deutsche.

Energy stocks provided much of the drive for the FTSE throughout the day, as crude was relatively steady at around $77 a barrel until prices dipped ahead of crude inventories due in the US. Cairn Energy Plc (LON:CNE) and Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA) were amongst the beneficiaries of the earlier stability.

Sainsburys has seen its smallest rise in quarterly sales in 5 years, it said earlier today. Like for like sales grew 1.1% in the 12 weeks to 12th June (excluding petrol). This was slightly better than rivals Tescos figures from yesterday. At close Sainsburys traded 327.3p, nominally higher.

Unemployment figures released today showed an increase of 23,000 to 2.47 million during the three months to April. This was a rise to 7.9% from 7.8% in the quarter to January.

Governemt bond auctions provided investors with some sense of security over…

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Unlock with Email
Unlock with Google

Already have an account?
Login here