Partner Article

FTSE higher amid strong corporate results

The market appeared to welcome developments form the EU summit yesterday, with EU leaders
agreeing to accelerate the setup of the €500 billion permanent rescue fund, bringing the EMS into
action a year earlier than originally planned. Additionally and in the first step towards a fiscal union,
25 of the 27 EU members signed up to the German inspired Fiscal Pact, with the UK and the Czech
Republic opting out.

Strong results from a number of FTSE 100 companies also helped the broader index, ARM Holdings,
initially the best performer with a 4.4% gain following the announcement that quarterly profits rose
45%. Shares in the company, whose chips are used in Apple’s iPhone and iPad, lost ground towards
the end of the day although still posted a respectable 2.0% to finish at 609.5p. National Grid was also
3.0% better off by the close of trade following an upbeat Interim management Statement that also
indicated the dividend would be increased. Further, British Sky Broadcasting saw gains of 3.7% to
690p on the back of strong 2Q results that showed revenues were up 3% with earnings per share up
20%, benefitting from strong underlying customer trends.

The index itself came off its highs in the afternoon, at least in part a result of weak consumer
confidence figures out of the US which pointed towards cooling domestic growth. Having enjoyed
trading at a level 1% higher than its open, the market closed the day up only 0.2%, a gain of 10.5
points to 5682.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Dance .