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Shares in the UK's best-known retailer Marks & Spencer were heading back towards their high for the year today with the help of another broker's recommendation.
They stood out in early trading with a rise of 5.1p to 344.5p, which compares with their peak this year of 351p, achieved back in May. Stockbroker Bernstein has raised its rating on the shares to outperform. This comes just a day after Bank of America Merrill Lynch listed M&S as one of its top picks in the retail sector with a buy rating.
In a separate move, M&S has awarded the logistics outfit Wincanton three, five-year contracts worth £275 million to run certain parts of its supply chain, including furniture. Wincanton shares responded to the news with a rise of 3p to 219p.
Leading shares traded a touch softer for choice, reflecting a lacklustre performance on Wall Street overnight and renewed fears about the pace of global economic recovery. The FTSE 100 Index managed to restrict the damage to a fall of 3.4 at 4814.1, while, by contrast, the wider FTSE 250 Index sported a rise of 28.2 at 8548.2.
Miners made the early running. Without their support the lead index would have been a lot lower. Randgold Resources rose 164p to 3853p, while Lonmin put on 38p at 1399p. But banks and insurers came under fresh selling pressure with Barclays shedding 4.7p at 3454.3p and RSA Insurance Group, down 1.7p at 122.6p. Once again, RSA is being dogged by talk of a billion rights issue. The company has done little to play down the claims.
Bovis Homes fell 4.5p to 502p, after turning to shareholders for extra cash. The housebuilder wants a total of £60 million and plans to use the money to add to its land bank. It will be placing 12.1 million shares, or 10% of the company. RBS Hoare Govett and Deutsche Bank will be operating an accelerated book-building exercise among institutional investors to gauge demand.
Only last week, Bovis reported a drop in profits but cheered the City by claiming that trading had been stronger in the first half of the current year. This added to the growing conviction among housing experts that the housing market had bottomed out. JP Morgan has been taking a look at the water utilities and clearly thinks its clients' money can be better invested elsewhere. It has a neutral rating on United Utilities and has trimmed its target for the shares from 580p to 560p. It also neutral on the Welsh water provider Pennon, which has also been tweaked from 530p to 520p, while Severn Trent is rated underweight with its sights lowered from 1030p to 1020p.
New York Investors had to endure volatile trading conditions on Wall Street overnight as they wrestled with the latest gloomy unemployment numbers. The ADP employment report indicated that private employers had cut more jobs during August than had been previously thought. This also sparked renewed fears that the US economic recovery was taking longer than expected. Earlier in the session traders had been encouraged by the Challenger jobs report which showed that the pace of US job losses had slowed. The Dow Jones ended the session 29.93 down at 9280.67.
News of the big oil find in the Gulf of Mexico by BP boosted the energy sector. ConocoPhillips, which has a stake in the Tiber Prospect in deepwater 400 miles of the Mexican coast responded with a rise of 1% to $44.59.
Share prices traded mixed in Asia this morning. In Tokyo, leading shares lost ground as exporters fell on worries about the US economy after dismal jobs data. By contrast, Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma rose on news it would bid for a rival American drugs firm. Dainippon Sumitomo opened up almost 8% higher following speculation that the company plans to offer about $2.7 billion to buy Sepracor. It later pared back its lead but still closed 3% higher at 1,043 yen.
The dollar briefly dropped below 92.00 yen for the first time since mid-July as investors continued to trim dollar holdings after the jobs report, putting additional pressure on exporters, but recovered slightly and was flat at 92.16 yen JPY. The benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 65.82 to 10,214.64.
In Hong Kong, shares posted modest gains but lagged the strong rally enjoyed by the Shanghai bourse, with investors wary of key monthly jobs data from America that may reveal a slower recovery for the world's largest economy.
Gold miner Zijin Mining climbed 8.4% to HK$6.87 after the price of the precious metal shot up overnight. Economic pessimism and a weak dollar spurred gold to its highest level since June.
The Hang Seng ended the morning session 193.38 higher at 19,715.38.
