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FTSE 100 shrugs off Ukraine vote and investors look ahead to Osborne’s budget

Last updated: 00:39 18 Mar 2014 AEDT, First published: 01:39 18 Mar 2014 AEDT

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UK house builder Persimmon (LON:PSN) topped the FTSE 100, up more than 4%, after property website Rightmove claimed prices are rising and the government prepares to extend its ‘help to buy’ scheme.

It seems even with three days to go investors are already looking ahead to George Osborne’s budget, despite the whirlwind of other geopolitical and economic news - punctuated with Crimea’s possible annexation, flailing Chinese demand, and a missing aeroplane.

Inside Osborne’s famous red briefcase are plans to extend the Help to Buy programme to 2020.

Britain will plough another £6 billion into the scheme, which helps first-time buyers get a foot on the property ladder.

That funding will help build another 120,000 properties, while 15,000 will be constructed at Ebbsfleet, expanding the commuter town.

As Persimmon led the FTSE, the likes of Barratt Developments (LON:BDEV), Bovis Homes (LON:BVS), Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW.), Berkeley Group (LON:BKG) and Bellway (LON:BWY) were also advancing, each rising between 3% and 5%.

On the whole, London’s bluechip benchmark shrugged off both the ongoing Ukraine crisis, adding about 50 points by lunchtime the FTSE 100 was up 0.79% at 6,578.

Crimea’s vote in favour of leaving Ukraine was a largely expected development for the market, indeed the apparent result (that it got 97% of votes) shows the choice was hardly in doubt.

At the same time, experts believe European sanctions against Russia, relating to the crisis, could be on the lenient side in view of this show of ‘self determination’ in the disputed region.

Miners were also on the rise on Monday, with Anglo American and Glencore Xstrata leading the way for the big-caps – both gained 3.7% today.

Although Guinness owner Diageo (LON:DGE) is keen to establish a very own holiday for 'the black stuff', Arthur’s Day, which takes place at the end of September, March 17th is always going to be a big day in the calendar for the spirits firm.

Nevertheless, despite the Paddy’s Day festivities, Diageo shares was the Footsie’s biggest faller, losing 1.4%, or 26p, to trade at £17.95.

Elsewhere in the market, float fever has well and truly taken hold. Just Eat and Jimmy Choo have joined the throng of companies rushing to the stock market to raise cash in the UK, while China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba is drawing up the blueprint for an IPO in the US, which could be the biggest of all time.

Alibaba confirmed it will snub the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in favour of Wall Street, but has not yet decided which of the NYSE or the tech-laden Nasdaq is a more suitable destination. Analysts reckon the group could raise as much as $15bn, valuing it at between $150bn and $200bn.

Investors, back in London, gobbled up plans for a listing from online takeaway delivery service Just Eat, which allows customers to order food online from their local restaurants.

The company believes the £100mln it is hoping to raise will help it grow its market share in the UK, as well as expand into new markets.

The duo will join the long list of companies that have joined the stock market in London recently, including Poundland (LON:PLND), Pets at Home (LON:PETS) and Boohoo.com (LON:BOO).

On AIM, attraction ticketing specialist Accesso Technology (LON:ACSO) has sealed five new US contracts following the acquisition of Siriusware.

Agreements have been signed with iFLY Virginia Beach, Jasper Tramway Acquisition Corporation, African Lion Safari & Game Farm, Holocaust Museum Houston and the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

They will use a variety of Siriusware ticketing solutions including e-commerce, front gate control, group sales and memberships.

Telit Communications (LON:TCM) shot up 8% to 209p. Growing adoption of the “internet of things” helped it more than double profits as last year.

The group, which specialises in machine to machine, or M2M, communications, was also boosted by the acquisitions of ILS Technology and growth in its cloud-computing based service arm. It is currently in the process of buying telematics business ATOP.

Shares in medical technology specialist ANGLE (LON:AGL) also got a shot in the arm, up 4% at 92.5p.

It passed another significant milestone as it said it has made its submission to America’s all powerful Food & Drug Administration for authorisation of its Parsortix cell separation system.

The group received the regulatory green light in Europe as it acquired the CE Mark in December for the device, which can harvest circulating tumour cells found in the blood.

This allows for the early detection of cancer and could be a significant step forward in the fight against the killer disease.

FDA clearance could come as early as the third quarter, but as ANGLE points out “no guarantees can be made around the exact timing of authorisation”.  

ZincOx Resources (LON:ZOX) also made headway. It made small gains after revealing the ramp-up to full production at its Korean recycling plant is on track as it reported record production for January, with even better expected for this month.

Ideagen (LON:IDEA) was AIM’s top riser climbing 24% on the back of NHS contracts, whilst natural resource firms Wessex Exploration (LON:WSX), Premier African Gold (LON:PREM) and Solgold (LON:SOLG) also rose strongly.

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