A further rally in telecoms and tech stocks helped the London market continue its climb today.
After an hour’s trading, the FTSE-100 Index was up 17.4 points at 5948.7, following yesterday’s strong 72-point gain, and moving closer to the key 6000 mark.
Rises on overseas markets overnight also gave a helping hand to the FTSE with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq and Far Eastern markets all posting gains.
In the UK, the techs and telecoms held the market up for a second day in a row, with heavyweight Vodafone up 4p at 194p, Telewest Communications rising 4p to 132p and BT up 15p at 575p.
Telecom equipment groups on the up included Spirent, up 12p at 430p and Marconi up 13p at 498p.
And among the tech risers was chip designer Arm, soaring 8% ahead, up 27p at 362p, while computer services group CMG rose 34p to 811p and Logica sparked 57p to £15.41.
Software group Autonomy, which is tipped to be relegated from the FTSE-100 following tomorrow’s review by FTSE, also sparked ahead, rising 18p to £12.70.
However as techs surged, banks suffered, and a host of high street names were slipping. Bank of Scotland fell 16p to £16.59, Halifax was off 5p at 705p, Barclays was 36p south at £21.72 and Royal Bank of Scotland was down 17p at £16.58.
Aviation group BBA also had a tough morning – falling nearly 13% after showing a weakening in demand at its materials technology arm. Shares were off 45p at 315p.
EGi News 06/03/01
