Reuters: Hot Stocks: Banks lead Britain's FTSE higher after Italy election

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Banks lead Britain's FTSE higher after Italy election Apr 22nd 2013, 08:48 Mon Apr 22, 2013 4:48am EDT * FTSE gains 0.5 percent * Italy chooses president, boosts euro zone exposed * ENRC tanks after Friday's surge, board members resign * Index stays within recent 320 point range By Alistair Smout LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE rallied for a second straight session on Monday, its banks boosted by signs of progress towards a resolution of political deadlock in Italy. The FTSE 100 rose 30.71 points, or 0.5 percent, at 6,317.30 by 0825 GMT. It is up 1.3 percent since hitting 10-week lows last Thursday. Financials added 18 points to the index, and banks populated four spots of the top six gainers, with those particularly exposed to the euro zone gaining the most after Italy elected a president, suggesting parties were nearer to a deal on a new government. "I think we're seeing a short-term value bounce in the financials, as the euro zone gloom is showing signs of lifting," Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interacive Investor, said. "It's a value play, especially as other sectors, like miners, which might be another way to play optimism, are being hampered by growth issues." Miners fell 0.4 percent, led lower by ENRC which fell 6.9 percent after a 26 percent gain on Friday. Three board members resigned over the weekend without details of the hoped-for takeover materialising. Heavyweight U.S. name Caterpillar reports later on Monday, and is seen as a bellwether for the mining and industrials sectors. "For companies like (Caterpillar), analysts have already lowered all their estimates, so you might see a headline beat but expectations have already been brought right down," Ioan Smith, director at Knight Capital, said. Caterpillar has seen its earnings downgraded by 9.6 percent over the last 90 days, Thomson Reuters StarMine data shows. Commodity-related stocks also suffered with weaker metals prices, whose slide last week weighed on markets. However Randgold Resources bucked the trend in the miners, gaining 3.2 percent to be the top FTSE 100 gainer after unveiling a plan to turn a weaker gold price to its advantage by expanding operations on the cheap. The gains brought the FTSE 100 well within its recent 320 point range, after last week's falls saw it test support between 6,210-6,225 - a level which has held since late January. However, McCudden said that further gains could be hard to come by without an improvement in economic data. "Equities continue to be the only show in town with regards to investment options... but the underlying economy will provide a reality check, and I'm not enthusiastic that it's going to be able to support decent and sustainable moves higher." (Editing by Patrick Graham) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions