Reuters: Hot Stocks: Ex-div stocks drag Britain's FTSE 100 closer to 6,300

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Ex-div stocks drag Britain's FTSE 100 closer to 6,300 Feb 13th 2013, 12:29 Wed Feb 13, 2013 7:29am EST * FTSE down 0.1 pct * Ex-divs take 17.4 points off the index * Vodafone on Kabel Deutschland purchase report * Tullow Oil rallies after results, Kenya update By David Brett LONDON, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Heavyweight stocks trading ex-dividend dragged on the FTSE 100 on Wednesday, outweighing gains in miners, as Britain's blue chip index continued to struggle to convincingly clear the 6,300 points hurdle. Falls in AstraZeneca, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Sage Group had together knocked a hefty 17.41 points off the index by 1152 GMT. The FTSE 100 was down 7.75 points, or 0.1 percent, at 6,330.63, after rallying 1 percent on Monday. The index has breached the 6,300 big figure several times since Jan. 28 but has failed to convincingly break above that level. "The question investors have to ask themselves is, is the reward currently on offer worth the risk in the short-term?" said Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets. The FTSE 100 reached a recent peak of around 6,360 in early February, about 40 points above current levels, but dipped a week ago to around 6,210, some 110 points below where it stood on Wednesday. Van Dulken said there was small resistance around 6,400, just above May 2008 highs. Heavyweight mobile telecoms firm Vodafone, down 1.9 percent, also dragged on the market after a German magazine reported on Wednesday that the German unit of the company is planning to buy Kabel Deutschland. IMI meanwhile fell 1.5 percent after UBS cut its rating to "sell" from "neutral", saying the company faces severe margin pressures in its service division, and is not as deserving of its new multiple as other engineers. UPGRADE FUELS PETROFAC But UBS provided a boost for Petrofac, which rose 3.2 percent after the investment bank upgraded the oil services firm to "buy" from "neutral" after recent underperformance following a profit warning from European peer Saipem. "While Saipem's warning may have cast doubt on the business model, we think that Petrofac's portfolio of projects is profitable and the order intake momentum is strong," UBS said. Staying in the oil-related arena, Tullow Oil recovered some recent losses, up 5 percent after releasing a set of Kenyan well test results, which it said could lead to the country's first commercial production. "Whilst this test rate exceeds prior guidance, some of this positive news should be in the price, with the stock trading up after disappointing announcements yesterday," Canaccord Genuity said in a note. "The next important news is the Sabisa well, onshore Ethiopia, currently drilling. This will be an important well, bracketing the potential to the north of the Kenya-Ethiopia trend. This well is being drilled in a separate basin from those drilled to date," it said. Reckitt Benckiser, maker of Strepsils throat lozenges and Mucinex decongestant, was up 2.2 percent after beating profit forecasts. Mining was the biggest sectoral winner, up 1.6 percent and extending its rally since mid January to more than 5 percent. Signs of a global economic recovery have fuelled appetite for the sector. Output at euro zone factories rose for the first time since August at the end of last year in a sign the single currency bloc was slowly starting to pull out of recession. Fidelity's Trevor Greetham, who manages around $2 billion in multi asset funds, said he remains overweight equities as he believes a cyclical upturn is underway. He also cited supportive monetary policy and the chance the price-earnings ratio will be re-rated upwards as inflation expectations rise. Britain's central bank said on Wednesday inflation will not fall back to its 2 percent target until early 2016 but that it is still open to more bond purchases to boost Britain's stagnant economy. (Editing by Catherine Evans) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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