Investments: Rate hold quiets market
London stays quiet as Bank holds rates
Thursday, 08 May 2008 18:07
The FTSE made up initial losses today as the markets stayed calm after the Bank of England held interest rates.
At the end of the day the FTSE 100 closed up 0.16 per cent to 6270.80.
Biggest gains of the day were recorded for food equipment manufacturer Enodis after US rival Illinois Tool Works agreed to buy the firm for $2.1 billion, with its share price up 18.38 per cent to 44.75p.
Miner Kazakhmys was up ten per cent to 1914p on takeover speculation, while Imperial Energy Corp was up 9.88 per cent.
Positive results from Next, Unilever, and Sage Group also boosted their share price.
Despite news of a deal with US retailer Best Buy, Carphone Warehouse's share price fell 3.43 per cent to 289p. Meanwhile ARM Holdings fell after Goldman Sachs downgraded its rating to 'neutral' from 'buy'.
"It looks like being a fairly flat finish for UK stocks as we go into the final minutes of the trading day," said Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at spread betting firm IG Index.
"Today's main event was the interest rate announcement by the Bank of England. Some of the downbeat news out yesterday for the economy had raised hopes in some quarters of a rate cut, but as broadly expected the Bank chose to stay pat for this month.
"This cautious approach to rate cutting is a contrast to how the Fed have acted in the USA - but with the economic outlook likely to remain somewhat gloomy for at least the short term, it does mean the Bank should have plenty of flexibility in reserve for the months to come.
"As ever, it will be the minutes released in a couple of weeks time that should give more of an indication as to if and when the next cut is coming."
Daniel Barnes