Reuters: Hot Stocks: UK shares set for biggest weekly gain this year

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UK shares set for biggest weekly gain this year Nov 23rd 2012, 12:16 Fri Nov 23, 2012 7:16am EST * FTSE 100 index adds 0.1 * Blue-chips also set for 5 straight days of gains * Euro zone uncertainty subdues volume * Defensives seen attractive ahead of Monday Greece meeting By Alistair Smout LONDON, Nov 23 (Reuters) - UK shares edged higher on Friday and looked set to post their strongest week of the year, although volumes were thin after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and pending the latest decision on shoring up Greece. At 1133 GMT, the FTSE 100 index was up 4.83 points, or 0.1 percent, at 5,795.86, taking gains for the week up to 3.4 percent, beating the year's best week so far, recorded in May. The FTSE is also set for five straight days of gains for only the third time this year, with the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday disrupting usual trends in Friday profit-taking activity. "The five day consecutive rally is interesting, as the S&P has only ever rallied 4 consecutive days into Thanksgiving nine times before. And every time its done that, it's rallied on the Friday as well," Andy Ash, Head of Sales at Monument Securities, said. "The market is looking to rally primarily into the year end. It's just a matter of whether one of the apocalyptic events that are waiting in the wings can wait until the new year," he said, saying that if international lenders were to write off large amounts of Greek debt, markets would react badly, but a further pushing out of the issue was more likely. International lenders who failed earlier this week to agree how to get Greece's debt down to a sustainable level will have a third go at resolving the problem on Monday. The FTSE 100 outperformed its European peers, which are more exposed to euro zone concerns. The German DAX was flat, while French Spanish and Italian all fell. Volumes were however very thin, with a mere 14 percent of an already low average 90-day volume traded by 1130 GMT, with activity likely to remain low during a half-day in U.S. markets following Thanksgiving. Sectors perceived as defensive, such as tobacco, drugs and drinks groups, were the top blue chip performers, with brewer SABMiller again in demand after strong first-half results on Thursday, when it gained 6.4 percent. "This positive price action amounts to a strong endorsement of the bull trend and the broader technical picture remains supportive of further upside in the short to medium term," Bill McNamara, technical analyst at Charles Stanley, said in a note. The stock gained another 0.8 percent and was the most heavily traded stock in the index after a raft of positive broker comment, as Nomura upgraded its rating for SABMiller to "neutral" from "reduce" after raising its target price for the stock, with JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and Societe Generale also hiking targets. Mining attracted profit taking, losing 0.1 percent after gaining in the previous sector following solid manufacturing data from China. (Editing by Ruth Pitchford) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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