Reuters: Hot Stocks: Upbeat earnings nudge UK's FTSE 100 higher

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Upbeat earnings nudge UK's FTSE 100 higher Jul 30th 2013, 11:03 Tue Jul 30, 2013 7:03am EDT * FTSE 100 up 0.2 pct in mid-session trade * GKN and ITV rise after H1 results beat forecasts * Barclays slumps after capital hike By Sudip Kar-Gupta LONDON, July 30 (Reuters) - A wave of upbeat earnings from leading companies nudged Britain's benchmark equity index higher on Tuesday, enabling it to offset a slump in Barclays after the bank announced a capital hike. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index was up by 0.2 percent, or 11.99 points, at 6,572.24 points in mid-session trade. The index hit a 13-year high of 6,875.62 points in late May, but then fell to 5,897.81 points in June as expectations of a gradual scaling-back of stimulus measures by the U.S Federal Reserve - which meets this week - caused an equities sell-off. Although the FTSE has since recovered ground, EGR Broking managing director Kyri Kangellaris felt the risk of a fresh fall remained. "The market is struggling to make new highs, which could be a sign of a potential sell-off," he said. Engineering group GKN topped the FTSE's leaderboard with a 6.3 percent rise after posting better-than-expected interim profits, while media group ITV rose 4.3 percent after also beating forecasts with its results. However, Barclays slumped 8 percent to 284.10 pence after announcing plans to raise 5.8 billion pounds ($8.90 billion) to strengthen its capital position. Charles Stanley analyst Bill McNamara felt Barclays could, in the short term, slip back towards the 278 pence level. The Barclays blow hit other banks, with part-nationalised lenders Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds falling 2 percent and 1.7 percent respectively ahead of results from the pair later in the week. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ UK banks' capital shortfall calculator: link.reuters.com/tuq98t ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ($1 = 0.6515 British pounds) (Additional reporting by Tricia Wright; Editing by Pravin Char) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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