Wednesday: Early trading bumpy

Apr 30 2008

Trading in Home Retail shares made a volatile start today after the Argos owner’s annual results presented a mixed message to investors.

The figures were slightly ahead of expectations, but the group warned that its Homebase business faced a tougher start to the new financial period.

Shares reversed initial losses to stand 6% higher, before settling 9p or 4% higher at 251.75p after an hour of trading. The wider London market held firm, with the FTSE 100 Index 4.3 points lower at 6085.1 as investors awaited tonight’s decision on US interest rates.

One of the other major moves of the session came from BSkyB after the satellite broadcaster met expectations with net customer growth of 56,000 in the third quarter of the financial year. Shares rose 14p to 554.5p.

Halifax Bank of Scotland lost 10p to 476.75p after Citigroup cut its target price on the stock following the £4 billion right issue announced yesterday.

And BG Group surrendered some of the gains seen on the back of results from Shell and BP. Even though the company posted its own strong profits figures, investors were wary after BG announced a £6 billion offer for Australian energy supplier Origin Energy. Shares fell 42p to 1266p.