Quiet day of trading on FTSE but enthusiasm still flows

At close the FTSE clocked up 29.61 points to close at 7,514.90 as investor enthusiasm continued unabated.

Amongst the biggest risers was Marks & Spencer, recovered from earlier trading to close 1.47% to 393.40p despite revealing full year results today that saw annual profits nosedive 63%. easyJet rose 3.31% to 1,344p and integrated tourism group, TUI AG rose 2.59% to 1,170.55p.

Meanwhile, China’s mounting debt caused Moody’s to downgrade it citing a worsening economic situation.

DIY store group, Kingfisher shares spiralled downwards to close -7.02% to 334.00p after it announced in a trading update that its Q1 like-for-like sales declined 0.6% due to poor performance in France.

Oil is performing slightly weaker after a period of higher prices but focus is shifting to OPEC’s meeting tomorrow. And the wide expectation of extending production cuts.

The pound was trading at 1.2932 tonight with the euro at 1.1567.

• UK FTSE 100 7,514.90 +0.40%
• Dow 20,971.54 +0.16% (Wed 17:53)
• S&P 500 2,398.18 +0.17%
• Nasdaq 6,149.42 +0.17%
• DAX 12,642.87 -0.13%
• CAC 40 5,341.34 -0.13%
• Gold 1,252.55 -0.6%
• Oil WTI 51.22 -0.72%

Marks and Spencer (Source: Shutterstock.com)

Marks & Spencer’s resilience was on show as its share price bounced back despite disappointing results.

The pre-tax profit plunge was due to mitigating factors of one-off charges around its restructuring programme that include changes to pension and pay. Clothing and home retail sales dropped 3.4% and food fell by 0.8%.

CEO, Steve Rowe, indicated the company has a strong strategic plan and said, “As we anticipated, the planned restructuring of M&S has come with a cost and has impacted profits, but the business is still strongly cash generative and we reduced our net debt.”

RBS (Source: Shutterstock.com)

RBS’ settlement deadline pressure

RBS’ £200 mn settlement offer to shareholders has seen further delays as lawyers acting for investors say there are ‘logistical problems’ contacting some of the shareholder claimants.

This is the third delay as the deadline has now been extended to noon 1 June. If the deadline is not met then RBS may become entangled in what is likely to be an embarrassing High Court trial.

RBS is seeking to settle with around 9,000 retail and City investors who were seeking £520 mn in compensation from losses following the 2008 cash call. RBS double its share settlement to 82p per share on Sunday. The majority of investors have accepted offers from RBS with only 13% of the original claimants pursuing the claim.