Reuters: Hot Stocks: FTSE trades around 5-year highs, boosted by miners

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FTSE trades around 5-year highs, boosted by miners May 7th 2013, 08:12 Tue May 7, 2013 4:12am EDT * FTSE 100 up 0.2 percent * Miners gain on central bank stimulus news flow * G4S slides, warns of 2013 margin pressure By Tricia Wright LONDON, May 7 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index nudged higher on Tuesday, aided by mining stocks and with central bank stimulus continuing to support equities over other asset classes because of potentially greater returns. Stock markets have been bolstered by easy monetary policy across the world, a trend reinforced overnight when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut its main cash rate to a record low of 2.75 percent. "I think the RBA rate cut has probably helped on the margins," Michael Hewson, analyst at CMC Markets, said". "(Investors are focusing on) the fact that monetary policy is going to remain loose, central bankers are going to (keep) basically underpinning the market and as such I think they feel... more comfortable buying stocks." The FTSE 100 was up 9.52 points, or 0.2 percent, at 6,530.98 by 0755 GMT, having been closed on Monday for a public holiday. It was also supported by a reiteration from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi that he was "ready to act" again if needed. The index, which gained 0.9 percent on Friday, is back up near a five-year peak reached in March. Some technical analysts see scope for the index to push on higher. Bill McNamara, technical analyst at Charles Stanley, said in a note there was an initial target of around 6,600 "before too long". Craig Erlam, analyst at Alpari, targeted 6,610. Mining stocks advanced 1.5 percent as investors, cheered by the economic stimulus newsflow, sought value in a sector which was badly bruised earlier in the year. Securitiy firm G4S was a significant early faller, off 10.7 percent, after it warned of margin pressure in 2013 following a difficult first quarter in Europe. With the quarterly earnings season of the STOXX Europe 600 60 percent of the way through, 52 percent of companies have missed expectations, Thomson Reuters StarMine data showed. (Reporting by Tricia Wright. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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