London equities passed the 6,000 mark by mid morning on Friday as Man Group led gainers on the back of a bullish first-half forecast. The hedge fund company rose 3.6% to 459¼p after it said it expected group pre-tax profit for the six months to September 30 to be ahead of consensus market expectations. Net management fee income is expected to rise by 35% while brokerage net income for the group will be up by over 40%. The FTSE 100 index having traded as high as 6,002.9 was by mid morning trading 27 points, or 0.5% higher at 5,9998.6. Standard Chartered announced the acquisition of Taiwan’s Hsinchu International Bank via a recommended tender offer. The group said it planned an equity placing to raise around $1.2bn and expected the acquisition to be completed in November 2006. Standard Chartered shares were 1.3% lower at £13.82 following the announcement. The FTSE 250 was trading at a 4-month high, up 35.5 points, or 0.4% at 10,013.2. Britvic led gainers on the mid-cap index, higher by 5.5% to 231¾p, after it said it expected results for the year to be towards the top end of current market expectations. The soft drinks company said it had seen improved trading in the 20 weeks to September 3, with branded revenue growth of 0.4% over the previous year. On the downside, Emap shares tripped up and fell 2.6% to 743½p after the media group said in a trading statement that trading conditions remained tough and it expected first-half underlying revenue to be down 2%.
Weaker lending figures sent UK fixed income markets higher with prices on 10-year gilts up to 96.370 and yields down 3bps to 4.456%.
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