The roaring performance of the US markets on Friday – with the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumping almost 250 points – set London up for a another positive opening this morning.
The FTSE-100 made a firm start and stood up 16.5 points at 6758.7 just before 9am.
The telecom stocks put in strong gains with Telewest Communications rising 12.5p to 352p.
Marconi – the former GEC now renamed and repositioned as a telecoms business – also pulled ahead 28.5p to £10.43 as did Cable & Wireless up 25p to 902.5p and mobile group Vodafone AiTouch up 5p to 311p.
But the big gainers were outside the Footsie with discount retailing and the internet once again proving the favourites.
Out-of-town stores group Matalan saw its shares boosted 152.5p to £14.90 after it latest trading figures showed like-for-like sales up 23% and total sales up 44%.
Internet stocks also gained markedly, led by Exchange Holdings logging on a massive 51p to 323.5p and Freeserve up 22.5p to 547p and Easynet up 150p to £15.32.
Broadcasters were also active with a raft of deals unveiled. Carlton Communications, up 1.5p to 571p, and Granada, up 18p to 558p, announced a joint venture to bring Americas Ask Jeeves internet search service to the UK.
TV channel provider Flextech gained 32.5p to £13.82 after announcing Barclays Private Equity had taken a 38% stake in the business.
And BSkyB announced it had pulled off its long awaited deal with Germanys Kirch to take a 24% stake in the pay-TV company.
The deal gives BSkyB a valuable foothold in Germany, but the £930 million price tag funded by a share issue unnerved the market which trimmed BSkyB shares by 7.5p to 790p.
PA News 6/12/99
