The London equities markets were slightly higher on Thursday on a slow trading day in which 2 billion shares traded hands. The FTSE 100 was 0.2 percent higher to 5,869, while the FTSE 250 gained even less, rising 0.1 percent to 9,459.9.
Among gainers on the day was Carphone Warehouse, which added 2.4 percent to 268¼p on an upgrade to “outperform” from Morgan Stanley on valuation issues. Also advancing on the day was beverage-can manufacturer Rexam, which added 7.5 percent to 549½p after its interim results were much better than rumor had suggested they would be. PayPoint, which operates electronic bill-pay terminals added 10.6 percent to 619½p on the strength of an upgrade from UBS on Wednesday.
Property developer Minerva added 5.1 percent to 280p, for one of the day’s best results on the 250, after an upgrade to “buy” from Merrill Lynch, based on an annual report that is anticipated to be positive. The report is due out next month.
Losers on the day included Rentokil Initial, down 4.7 percent to 152¼p after it warned that its largest division will not meet forecasts this year. William Morrison dropped 0.8 percent to 216p on a disappointing result in the TNS market share survey covering the four weeks that ended August 13.