SHARES STRONGLY UP/DOWN this week 12/12/05 (Master RSI)

Times Online December 16, 2005

Amvescap in demand as FTSE tests new high
Markets Report from
Bryce Elder

Michael Page's CEO exits
Carnival's 2006 guidance falls short
Bede tumbles after warning of order delay
Switch out of Schroders, Morgan Stanley says
"Pre-pay danger" for Carphone Warehouse
Downgrades for IG Group, mining stocks

Amvescap led a broad-based rally among British stocks, with benchmarks squeezed just short of new multi-year highs by the year's final expiry of futures and options contracts.

The FTSE 100 index closed higher by 36.3 at 5531.6 as books were closed and short positions were squared out on what is usually the last big-volume day of the year. Gainers outnumbered fallers by about ten to one as the gauge returned to within 7 points of a previous four-year closing high.

The lapsing of options on indices and individual stocks passed by in midmorning without creating too many ructions in the underlying cash market. It also boosted turnover to more than 3.5 billion, with more than a third of that coming before the expiry.

London's gain was matched on Wall Street, which moved higher by around 44 at 10,927 in the first few hours even after some mixed corporate news. Following last night's closing bell, earnings from Oracle disappointed and Photoshop maker Adobe beat expectations.

Amvescap was among Britain's best performing blue chips, up 15.5p at 436p , after Morgan Stanley raised its rating to "overweight" from "equal-weight" and advised clients to switch out of rival fund manager Schroders.

"We see a much larger opportunity for cost cutting at Amvescap than the market is pencilling in," Morgan Stanley told clients. "We expect management will use full-year results to announce a major efficiency drive (and) a new strategy - improving investment performance and better cross selling."

A downgrade of Schroders, to "equal-weight" from "overweight," was based on valuation after the stock's strong run this year. Still, Schroders' voting shares closed ahead 5.5p at 948p.

Daily Mail led the FTSE 100 risers, up 33p to 758.5p on speculation that Trinity Mirror may make a bid for a chunk of Northcliffe, the group's regional newspapers arm that was put up for sale late last month.

According to analysts at Lehman Brothers, Trinity could afford to buy 50 per cent of Northcliffe assets for £750 million via a 1-for-5 equity issue to raise about half the amount -- assuming it could get the issue away at 575p. Shares of Trinity, which is already the leading UK regional publisher, eased 12p to 563p.

Because of the options expiry, stocks that had been most volatile this quarter provided many of the other blue-chip risers. That list included scandal-hit caterer Compass (up 5p to 218.25p) as well as much-shorted retail and supermarket sectors (Sainsbury was up 7.5p to 305p, Morrison rose 4p to 188p and Kingfisher gained 5p to £239).

Carnival was the weakest of the blue chips after accompanying a better-than-expected quarterly statement with forward guidance that fell short of expectations.

The Anglo-American cruse ship operator said fourth-quarter earnings were 43 cents per share, better than the consensus of 41 cents. But mangement's estimate for the first quarter 2006 ewas for earnings of 34 cents to 36 cents, a whole dime below the Street's consensus forecast as guidance on yields fell short of what the Street had predicted.

Further down the market, Bede dropped 2.75p to 10.25p after it warned that a delay of a customer order meant sales for the year are "unlikely" to exceed £6.8 million, the figure given in its third quarter update.

The company, which supplies X-ray metrology tools to the semiconductor industry, also cautioned that a separate order which was to be shipped in the current financial year has now been pushed out to 2006.

Other trading statements were broadly reassuring as companies cleared their in-boxes on the last day of serious City business this year.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, said trading is in line with expectations and profit would be ahead of the £337 million it made last year. The company also said that 2006 will be tough, with rising utility bills "inevitable". Shares were ahead 5p to 243.5p,

Gallaher rose 5.5p to 890.5p after the manufacturer of Benson & Hedges and Silk Cut said trading is in line with expectations. Growth in central and eastern Europe helped balance falling sales in the UK and Germany.

Alliance UniChem, the drugs wholesaler that plans to merge with Boots, said that it is confident of a "strong financial performance" this year despite difficult market conditions. Shares inched up 8p to 797p, while Boots rose 6.5p to 601p.

Housebuilder Persimmon -- due to enter the FTSE 100 next week -- rose 37.5p to 1229.5p after saying it expects its full year results to be strong and in line with management expectations.