By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- The U.K.'s benchmark edged higher
Tuesday, with shares of BHP Billiton PLC outperforming following
the mining heavyweight's financial results.
The FTSE 100 was up 0.2% at 6,923.82 after spending much of the
session swaying between small losses and gains. The benchmark on
Monday
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/hsbc-shares-hit-in-london-trade-pulling-ftse-100-lower-2015-02-23)
lost three points after having pushed above its all-time closing
high of 6,930.20, hit in December 1999.
Stocks made minor moves during testimony by Bank of England
Governor Mark Carney at a Treasury Select Committee in London.
Carney, in backing the bank's recent quarterly inflation report,
said he expects the level of U.K. inflation to rise back to the
government's mandated target of 2%. The pound (GBPUSD) traded at
$1.5440 compared with $1.5457 late Monday.
Standing out among equity advancers was BHP Billiton (BHP) . Its
stock climbed 4.7% after the miner, the biggest by market value,
reported a lower-than-anticipated fall in first-half profit, which
was $4.27 billion
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bhp-profit-falls-as-commodity-prices-slide-2015-02-24).
Analysts polled by The Wall Street Journal had expected profit, on
average, to come in at $3.59 billion.
"Cost reduction ahead of full-year guidance, strong free cash
flows and further rationalisation of capex were all positives,"
said Barclays analyst Ephrem Ravi in a note, adding that it's
maintaining its overweight rating on BHP.
In a move by BHP to "keep shareholders happy the interim
dividend was boosted by 5%," said David Madden, market analyst at
IG, in a note. "The ability of the company to produce a strong set
of numbers during a testing time for the commodities industry is
why the market has so much confidence in BHP Billiton." The interim
divided would be raised to 62 cents a share.
Also near the top of the benchmark, shares of Mondi PLC popped
up 1.7%. The packaging and paper company said it's recommending a
17% increase in its dividend
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/mondi-profit-rises-recommends-dividend-increase-2015-02-24)after
a rise in 2014 profit to 471 million euros ($534.6 million), from
EUR386 million a year earlier.
Meanwhile, Diageo PLC shares gained 0.7% as Berenberg
reinitiated coverage on the beverage maker with a buy rating.
But holding at the lower end of the FTSE was Vodafone PLC , with
shares of the mobile-services provider falling 2.6% after a ratings
downgrade to underperform from neutral at Bank of America Merilll
Lynch.
Shares of Meggitt PLC fell 5.1% as the aerospace, defense and
energy group posted a 22% decline in pretax profit to GBP208.9
million
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/meggitt-yearly-profit-falls-2015-02-24),
and a 5% revenue decrease to GBP1.55 billion.
GKN PLC shares dropped 3.1% after the engineering firm reported
a fall in full- year sales and pretax profit
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gkn-profit-falls-amid-currency-hit-2015-02-24)
due to the impact of currency movements. GKN did say taking out the
impact of currency movements, organic sales rose 4%.
Home builder Persimmon PLC posted a 45% rise in 2014 pretax
profit to GBP467 million, and a 23% rise in sales to GBP2.57
billion. But shares fell in Tuesday's trade, losing 3.7%. The
shares climbed 34% in 2014, and are up 4.6% so far this year.
Persimmon's 2014 results were "solid", wrote Davy equity analyst
Colin Sheridan in a note. "However, with current trading likely to
be uncertain ahead of the U.K. general election, and few
incremental positives from the long-term capital returns program,
we see little reason to become more positive on the stock at this
time," said Sheridan, reiterating its underperform rating on
Persimmon.
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-time-does-draghi-speak-on-tuesday-2015-02-24)
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-time-does-draghi-speak-on-tuesday-2015-02-24)
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