Reuters: Hot Stocks: WPP and M&S nudge Britain's FTSE 100 higher

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WPP and M&S nudge Britain's FTSE 100 higher Jul 18th 2013, 07:54 Thu Jul 18, 2013 3:54am EDT * FTSE 100 up 0.2 pct at 6,586.91 points * Upbeat Publicis results lift rival WPP * Renewed vague bid talk boosts M&S By Sudip Kar-Gupta LONDON, July 18 (Reuters) - Britain's benchmark equity index edged up on Thursday, as major advertising group WPP rose after upbeat results from one of its rivals, while renewed buyout bid speculation boosted retailer Marks & Spencer. The blue-chip FTSE 100 edged up by 0.2 percent, or 14.98 points, to 6,586.91 points in early session trade. WPP, which has one of the biggest market capitalisations in the FTSE 100, rose 2.5 percent to give one of the biggest lifts to the index, which was also helped by French rival Publicis posted higher sales growth. M&S, which has been the subject of on-off bid speculation in the UK media, also rose 2.3 percent to feature among the best-performing FTSE 100 stocks after the Daily Mail newspaper reported "revived U.S. bid talk" surrounding the company. "I like M&S as a firm, but I wouldn't buy it at these levels, especially with the bid rumours built into the price. If no bid arrives, you'd be caught off-side," said EGR Broking managing director Kyri Kangellaris. The FTSE 100, which is up by around 12 percent since the start of 2013, raced to a 13-year high of 6,875.62 points in late May. It then slipped back in June on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would eventually scale back economic stimulus measures that had helped drive the global equity rally this year before then recovering in July. Yet despite the July recovery, the FTSE 100 is still down some 4 percent from those May peaks, and Hartmann Capital trader Basil Petrides said he would err on the side of betting on a minor, short-term fall rather than a rise. "I still think we have a softer bias for now," he said. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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