The London market built on recent gains today after falls in the oil price boosted stocks in New York last night.
After closing positively for the fifth session in a row yesterday, the FTSE 100 Index rose 17.2 points in the first hour of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 83 points ahead last night as the cost of a barrel of US light crude dropped below $44.
On a mixed day for corporate news in London, pest control-to-hygiene firm Rentokil Initial took top place in the FTSE fallers’ board after investors reacted negatively to the company’s decision not to break itself up.
Shares fell more than 5% or 8.5p to 144.5p despite the group’s confirmation that it planned to hike the full year dividend by 10%.
However, shares in hotel operator Hilton Group rose 1.25p to 260.5p after it said it was encouraged by the performance of its hotels, but warned it was still too early to celebrate a full recovery. British Airways was the top riser, putting on 2% or 5p to 228.5p in the wake of the falling oil price.
Elsewhere, shares in engineering group Invensys were unchanged at 15p after it said first quarter operating profits in its retained businesses had fallen £1m to £16m against the same quarter last year.
References: EGi News 26/08/04
