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FTSE nears all-time high
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February 23, 1999: 6:00 a.m. ET
Dow rally bolsters European markets; London surges amid positive earnings
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LONDON (CNNfn) - Strong gains on Wall Street and a bounty of positive earnings reports sent London's blue-chip index rocketing in morning trade Tuesday. The index is within shouting distance of its all-time high of 6,195.6 set Jan. 8.
Analysts said a combination of softer bond markets and a 212-point rally on the Dow Jones lent an air of ebullience to early London trade.
The FTSE index of 100 leading shares surged 110.2 points, or 1.8 percent. to 6,180.1, with National Westminster Bank (NWB), consumer goods group Unilever (ULVR) and gas supplier BG (BG) among the leading advancers after posting strong financial results.
NatWest Bank stock climbed nearly 8 percent to 1,365 pence after rolling out pretax profits towards the higher range of expectations at 2.14 billion pounds. Barclays (BARC) gained 2.64 percent to 1,711.
Shares of Unilever spiked 4 percent to 651 pence following an announcement that it plans to return 5 billion pounds to shareholders. BG reported a 31 percent improvement in operating profits in 1998 to 1.57 billion pounds ($2.55 billion) and unveiled plans to pursue an internationally-oriented future in the industry. The news pushed the company's shares up almost 4 percent, to 372 pence.
Shares in BSkyB (BSY), the British pay-T.V. giant controlled by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., surged 5 percent after reports it is in talks with France's Canal Plus (PAN) about a merger that could spawn Europe's biggest commercial television company. Canal Plus stock jumped nearly 5 percent in Paris to 308.9 euros.
A Canal Plus spokesperson told CNNfn that the talks were part of its normal course of business and that it was speaking to other media groups as well.
Telecom Italia Tuesday denied talk of pacts with U.S. telecom giant AT&T (T) and British Telecommunications (BT.A) as it sought to shore up its defenses in the wake of a hostile $58 billion bid from Olivetti, Reuters reported.
Markets will also be keeping close tabs Tuesday on congressional testimony by U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.
The electronically-traded Xetra Dax climbed nearly 2 percent in Frankfurt, or 94.67 points, to 4,982.37 with trading focusing on earnings reports from several blue-chip companies.
Hypovereinsbank (FBVM) was up 0.50 euros at 51.95 euros after posting a drop in full-year 1998 operating profits to 2.5 billion marks from 2.9 billion marks.
Conglomerate RWE (FRWE) crept up 1.30 euros to 39.50 after it unveiled a 15.2 percent hike in half-year profits and reiterated its target of 10 percent profit growth for the year, Reuters reported.
In Zurich, the SMI index was up 0.86 percent at 7,137.6. Ciba Specialty Chemicals slipped 3.50 francs to 111 francs after reporting a group net loss of 739 million francs last year versus a profit of 293 million francs in 1997.
In Paris, the CAC 40 extended earlier gains, rising almost 35 points to 4,200.60. Air France [PAR:03112] stock was up 0.93 euros at 17.03 euros a day after the French government floated a 20.7 percent in the state air carrier on the Paris bourse.
--from staff and wire reports
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