LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE DAILY MARKET SUMMARY
AND ANALYSIS (Late Edition) ARCHIVES

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Market Summary and Analysis for Friday November 16th. 2001

FTSE 250: 5923.8 = +14.4

FTSE A/S: 2553.7 = +22.9

TechMARK 100: 1617.8 = +9.5

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) FTSE 100 and the TechMARK 100 all rallied to close the week strong. Gainers included: Abbey National, Airtours Plc, Amersham Plc, Amey Plc, Amvescap Plc, Anite Group Plc, ARM Holdings, Axis-Shield Plc, Baltimore Technology, Barclays Plc, BG Group Plc, Boots Co. Plc, BP Amoco Plc, British Airways, British Telecom Plc, Cadbury Schweppes Plc, Canary Wharf Group Plc, Centrica Plc, Chrysalis Group Plc, Diageo Plc, EMI Group Plc, Enterprise Oil, Filtronic Plc, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Guardian IT, Gyrus Group Plc, Hays Plc, HBOS Plc, Hornby Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, ICI Plc, Imagination Tech, Imperial Tobacco, Indigovision Group Plc, Innogy Holdings, Innovation Group, ITNet Plc, KS Biomedix Plc, Logica Plc, London Clubs International Plc, Man Group, Marconi Plc, Marks & Spencer Plc, Merant Plc, Misys Plc, Morse Plc, Orchestream Holdings, Pace Micro Technology, Phytopharm Plc, Powderject Pharmaceuticals, Project Telecom Plc, Reed International, Reuters Group Plc, Riversoft Plc, RM Plc, Rolls Royce Plc, Royal & Sun Alliance, Royal Bank of Scotland, Safeway Plc, Schroders NV, Scottish & Newcastle Plc, Shell Transport & Trading, Six Continents Plc, Spectris Plc, Telemetrix Plc, Triad Group Plc, TTP Communications, Turbo Genset Plc, Unilever Plc, United Business Media, and Vodafone Group Plc.

REASONS FOR ACTIVITIES

• Euro Zone Consumer Price Index (CPI), a good measure of consumer inflation, declined 0.1% to 2.4% in October, due mostly to low energy prices. The Core CPI, which excludes energy, food, and tobacco sectors, rose only 0.1% to 2.3%.
• Energis lost 4.61% after Moody's™  Investor Services downgraded its rating on Energis' senior unsecured debts, one day after Standard & Poor™ took a similar action.
• Oil shares and prices gained today as the sector tries to stabilize after a rather rough week. Incidentally, the cheap oil prices are fuelling the recovery in airline shares.
• Marconi gained 3.01% despite being dropped from the FTSE International Index in favour of just demerged mm02, the former BT Wireless. United Business Media gained 0.47% after being dropped from the FTSE 100 in favour of mm02. mmo2 closed 5.87% lower in limited trading.
• Model trains maker Hornby gained 4.46% after reporting first half pretax profits that rose 52% to £794,000, while turnover rose 14% to £10.6 million. Hornby is optimistic about its second half, due to such new additions like Harry Potter™ Hogwarts Express, which is expected to do very well due to the Harry Potter™ craze.
• Triad Group gained 3.86% after reporting first half pretax profits that rose to £1.52 million, while turnover declined £800,000 to £24.2 million. Triad announced a 1p/share dividend for the half, but lowered its full year estimates.
• London Clubs International gained 59.15% after announcing that it has a deal that will free it from its $150 million payments relating to Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas.
• Baby clothing company Mothercare lost 6.52% after reporting first half pretax profits that rose £800,000 over the year to £4.8 million, while turnover rose 6.8% to £226.2 million. Mothercare warned about its full year results due to warehousing problems.
• Express Diaries lost 5.26% after reporting first half pretax profits that declined almost half to £13.3 million. Express Diaries also announced plans to cut 109 jobs, and sell its liquid milk unit for £5 million.
• Marks & Spencer gained 3% after briefing analysts today.
• Celltech Group lost 0.15% after rising earlier in the day on rumours that Novartis AG of Switzerland might acquire it. On the downside, Celltech's Director of Development, Ursula Ney, is leaving to head a private drug development company, Charterhouse Therapeutics.

• Chrysalis Group, EMI Group, and Safeway gained on the eve of their earnings reports next week, while J Sainsbury and Kingfisher closed lower. 

PICKS FOR NEXT MARKET DAY

• The war in Afghanistan seem to be going just right, and with cheap oil everywhere, only economic releases and poor earnings can derail next week. 

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Market Summary and Analysis for Thursday November 15th. 2001

FTSE 250: 5909.4 = +88.1

FTSE A/S: 2530.8 = +5.1

TechMARK 100: 1608.3 = +52.4

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) FTSE 100 closed lower, while the TechMARK 100 rallied today. Gainers included: Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, Alphameric Plc, Amersham Plc, Amvescap Plc, Anglo American, Anite Group Plc, ARM Holdings, Autonomy Corp, Axis-Shield Plc, Baltimore Technology, Barclays Plc, Barratt Developments Plc, BATM Advanced Communications, BHP Billiton, Biocompatibles Plc, BOC Group Plc, Bookham Technology, British Airways, British Telecom Plc, BTG Plc, Cable & Wireless Plc, Cadbury Schweppes Plc, Canary Wharf Group Plc, Capita Group Plc, Capital Radio Plc, Centrica Plc, CMG Plc, Cobham Plc, Colt Telecom Group Plc, Compass Group Plc, Computacenter Plc, Diageo Plc, Dixons Group Plc, Electrocomponent Plc, Energis Plc, Fibernet Group Plc, Filtronic Plc, Guardian IT, Gyrus Group Plc, Hanson Plc, Hays Plc, HBOS Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Imagination Tech, Indigovision Group Plc, Innogy Holdings, Innovation Group, Intec Telecom Plc, International Power, Invensys Plc, IQE Plc, Isoft Group Plc, ITNet Plc, ITouch Plc, Kidde Plc, Kingfisher Plc, Kingston Communications, Logica Plc, London Bridge Software, Lynx Group Plc, Marconi Plc, Marks & Spencer Plc, Marlborough Stirling Plc, Merant Plc, Misys Plc, Ncipher Plc, Orchestream Holdings, Oxford Glycosciences, Pace Micro Technology, Pearson Plc, Phytopharm Plc, Powderject Pharmaceuticals, Project Telecom Plc, Psion Plc, Reed International, Renishaw Plc, Reuters Group Plc, Rio Tinto Plc, Riversoft Plc, RM Plc, Rolls Royce Plc, Royal & Sun Alliance, Royal Bank of Scotland, Royalblue Group Plc, SA Breweries, Sage Group Plc, Schroders Plc, Schroders NV, Scottish & Newcastle Plc, Six Continents Plc, Spectris Plc, Telemetrix Plc, Telewest Communications, Tesco Plc, Thus Plc, Triad Group Plc, TTP Communications, Turbo Genset Plc, Unilever Plc, Vodafone Group Plc, Weston Medical, Whatman Plc, Wolseley Plc, WPP Group Plc, and Xansa Plc.

REASONS FOR ACTIVITIES

• Oil share and prices declined as OPEC pressures non-OPEC members to cut production too. OPEC agreed to a production cut of 1.5 million barrels a day, and is asking non-OPEC major producers like Mexico, Norway and Russia to cut an additional 500,000 barrels a day.
• Invensys gained 34.18% after announcing first half pretax profits of £281 million, in line with city estimates. Invensys plans to cut down on its cash burn, and expects to meet its banking covenant by year's end.
• GlaxoSmithKline lost 0.62% despite announcing that it has a deal to promote Baker's Vardenafil™, an impotence medication that is expected to challenge Viagra™.
• Telewest Communications gained 29.31% after reporting fiscal Q3 pretax earnings that beat city estimates by £3 million to £83 million. Telewest also announced that its Broadband subscribers rose 71% to 70,000 for the quarter.
• Hilton Group lost 2.05% after warning that the September 11th. US attacks had serious effects at its hotels, but not bad enough to start large job cuts. On the upside, the company reported that sales at its betting places rose 25% since the betting tax was removed.
• Software shares were the hottest things today, and so was the tech sector, after IBM announced that its business services unit is seen an up pick in business.
• International Power gained 5.42% after reporting that for the first 9 months of the year, its pretax profits rose 46% to £240 million, while turnover rose £156 million over the year to £906 million.
• British Telecom (BT) gained 4.11% after telecommunications regulator Oftel stated that BT met its November 5th. deadline for unbundling its services so as to promote competition. BT rivals like Colt Telecom and Energis gained.
• Capital Radio gained 5.54% despite reporting full year pretax profits that declined 27% to £30.1 million.
• Barratt Developments gained 8.01% after reporting that its pretax profits have increased 24% since July 1st. to £178.4 million, while sales reservations have risen 9% over the year in the last 18 weeks alone.
• Energis gained 10.48% despite a debts downgrade from Standard & Poor®.

• Triad Group gained 19.43% on the eve of its earnings report tomorrow. 

PICKS FOR NEXT MARKET DAY

• US after hours market doesn't look too bad, as number one PC maker Dell and financial software company Intuit reported better than expected results. 

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Market Summary and Analysis for Wednesday November 14th. 2001

FTSE 250: 5821.3 = +71.0

FTSE A/S: 2525.7 = -9.4

TechMARK 100: 1555.8 = +29.3

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) FTSE 100 closed lower, while the TechMARK 100 rallied today. Gainers included: AEA Technology, Amvescap Plc, Anglo American, ARM Holdings, Associated British Foods, Autonomy Corp, BAA Plc, BAE Systems Plc, BATM Advanced Communications, BHP Billiton, BOC Group Plc, Bookham Technology, Brambles Industries, British Airways, British Telecom Plc, Cable & Wireless Plc, Cadbury Schweppes Plc, Canary Wharf Group Plc, Capita Group Plc, Cedar Group Plc, CMG Plc, Cobham Plc, Colt Telecom Group Plc, Computacenter Plc, Daily Mail & General Trust Plc, Diagonal Plc, Domino Printing Plc, Dixons Group Plc, Electrocomponent Plc, EMI Group Plc, Fibernet Group Plc, Filtronic Plc, First Technology Plc, GKN Plc, Granada Plc, Guardian IT, GUS Plc, Hanson Plc, Hays Plc, HBOS Plc, Hilton Group Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Imagination Tech, Indigovision Group Plc, Innogy Holdings, Innovation Group, Intec Telecom Plc, Isoft Group Plc, ITNet Plc, ITouch Plc, Kidde Plc, Kingfisher Plc, Kingston Communications, Logica Plc, London Bridge Software, Macro 4 Plus Plc, Man Group Plc, Marks & Spencer Plc, Marlborough Stirling Plc, Merant Plc, Misys Plc, Morse Plc, National Grid Plc, Ncipher Plc, Next Plc, Orchestream Holdings, Parthus Technology, Pearson Plc, Phytopharm Plc, Powderject Pharmaceuticals, Psion Plc, Rank Group Plc, Reed International, Rentokil Initial Plc, Reuters Group Plc, Rio Tinto Plc, Riversoft Plc, RM Plc, Rolls Royce Plc, Royalblue Group Plc, SA Breweries, Sage Group Plc, Schroders Plc, Schroders NV, Scipher Plc, Scottish & Southern Energy, Six Continents Plc, Standard Chartered Bank, Telemetrix Plc, Telewest Communications, Telework Systems, Thus Plc, Torotrak Plc, Trafficmaster Plc, United Utilities Plc, United Business Media, Vodafone Group Plc, Weston Medical, Whatman Plc, and Xansa Plc.

REASONS FOR ACTIVITIES

• UK Unemployment Rate edged up 10 basis points (0.10%) to 3.2% in October. The economy is still performing above its peers in the G7.
• Oil shares closed lower as OPEC seeks production cuts from non-OPEC producers too. Adding to the problems, US President George W. Bush asked that US strategic crude reserves be released.
• Cable & Wireless gained 4.34% after announcing a £1.7 billion share buyback and special dividend plan.
• Kingfisher gained 3.16% after its home improvement unit, B & Q, announced that it will open an additional 50 larger stores by 2004 and add 4,000 jobs in the UK in the next 12 months.
• HSBC Holdings gained after agreeing to settle a promissory notes fraud case against its US subsidiary, Republic New York, for $450 million.
• Mining shares were some of the hottest shares today.
• Industrial gases company BOC Group gained 3.67% after reporting fiscal Q4 pretax profits of £117.1 million, well better than city estimates.
• Hotels operator Six Continents gained 5.14% after CS First Boston raised its fiscal 2001 pretax profits forecast to £715 million.
• BHP Billiton gained 3.09% to close at 334p/share after CS First Boston upgraded it to a "buy" and raised its price target to 440p/share.
• Reckitt Benckiser lost 0.98% despite reporting fiscal Q3 results that met city estimates, and also announced that it will beat its own 2001 estimates.
• Hard Rock Cafe™ operator Rank Group gained 6.72% after announcing that results for the 4 months ending October were satisfactory, but gaming operating profits are above last year's levels.

• Powderject Pharmaceuticals and Telewest Communications gained on the eve of their earnings reports, while Invensys closed unchanged, but International Power closed lower. 

PICKS FOR NEXT MARKET DAY

• Earnings reports and economic data will impact the markets tomorrow - again.
• US after hours market doesn't look too bad. 

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Market Summary and Analysis for Tuesday November 13th. 2001

FTSE 250: 5750.3 = +121.8

FTSE A/S: 2535.1 = +61.4

TechMARK 100: 1526.6 = +75.3

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) FTSE 100 and the TechMARK 100 rallied today as the Afghanistan war tension eases, and due to good earnings reports. Gainers included: Abbey National, AEA Technology, Alliance & Leicester, Allied Domecq, Anglo American, Anite Group Plc, Arc International, ARM Holdings, Autonomy Corp, Azlan Group Plc, Baltimore Technology, Barclays Plc, BHP Billiton, Biocompatibles Plc, BOC Group Plc, Bookham Technology, Boots Co. Plc, BP Amoco Plc, British Airways, British American Tobacco, British Biotech Plc, British Telecom Plc, Cable & Wireless Plc, Canary Wharf Group Plc, Carlton Communications, Capita Group Plc, Computacenter Plc, Diageo Plc, Domino Printing Plc, Eidos Plc, Electrocomponent Plc, Emap Plc, Energis Plc, Enterprise Oil & Gas, Forbidden Technologies, Friends Provident, Granada Plc, Hays Plc, Hilton Group Plc, Indigovision Group Plc, Intec Telecom Plc, Invensys Plc, Isoft Group Plc, ITouch Plc, Kidde Plc, Land Securities Plc, Lattice Group Plc, Legal & General, Lloyds TSB, Marconi Plc, Marks & Spencer Plc, Marlborough Stirling Plc, Morse Plc, National Grid Plc, Pace Micro Tech, Pearson Plc, Prudential Plc, Powderject Pharmaceuticals, Reed International, Rentokil Initial Plc, Reuters Group Plc, Rio Tinto Plc, Rolls Royce Plc, Royal & Sun Alliance, Royal Bank of Scotland, Scipher Plc, Securicor Plc, Shell Transport & Trading, Telecity Plc, Telewest Communications, Tesco Plc, Unilever, United Business Media, Vodafone Group Plc, Weston Medical, Whatman Plc, Wolseley Plc, WPP Group Plc, and Xansa Plc.

REASONS FOR ACTIVITIES

• Vodafone Group gained 3.30% after reporting first half pretax profits that rose 65% to £3.0 billion, while turnover rose 27% to £8.9 billion. Vodafone took a £4.75 billion charge on its acquisition of Mannesmann in 2000.
• Energis gained 3.66% after reporting first half losses that more than doubled to £58 million, while turnover rose £120 million over the year to £488 million.
• Marconi gained 6.11% after reporting first half pretax losses of £222 million, while turnover came in at £2.6 billion. Marconi wrote off £4.5 billion due to the poor trading conditions of its US unit, and also announced that its debts now stand at £4.5 billion.
• Oil shares and prices closed higher on the eve of the OPEC meeting in Vienna.
• News that the Taliban have fled the Afghan capital of Kabul and the Northern Alliance is set to march in helped the markets to rally, as war fears continue to ease.
• Telecity gained 10.71% after the web hosting company announced a 5-year contract with Germany's Deutsche Telekom AG.
• Smiths Group lost 2.74% due to comments at the AGM that over the year sales are 15% lower.
• Forbidden Technologies gained 13.95% after the Internet Video technology company signed a promotional deal with holiday information provider, Travel Television.
• Scipher gained 20.99% after acquiring peer, Fairfield Resources of the US, yesterday at a bargain price of £3.2 million.
• Emap gained 1.35% after reporting first half pretax profits that rose 8% to £55 million, while turnover rose 3% to £456 million.
• Brake Brothers lost 10.14% after making known today that its food business is down due to the poor economic conditions.
• Securicor gained 1.30% after Goldman Sachs upgraded it to a "buy". ABN AMRO downgraded the stock recently after someone passed through its airport detection system armed with knives at Chicago's O'Hare International airport.
• Intec Telecom gained 13.67% after signing a £1 million deal to supply Kingston Communications with its revenue assurance software. Kingston Communications closed lower.

• BOC Group, Cable & Wireless, Canary Wharf, Land Securities, and Powderject Pharmaceuticals gained on the eve of their earnings reports, while Reckitt Benckiser closed lower.

• APOLOGY: We are experiencing some growing pains as we try to expand our services to Australia and South Africa. Please bear with us. 

PICKS FOR NEXT MARKET DAY

• Earnings reports and economic data will impact the markets tomorrow.
• US after hours market doesn't look too bad. 

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Market Summary and Analysis for Monday November 12th. 2001

FTSE 250: 5628.5 = -63.4

FTSE A/S: 2473.7 = -44.1

TechMARK 100: 1451.3 = -39.0

SUMMARY & ANALYSIS

The London Stock Exchange (LSE) FTSE 100 and the TechMARK 100 closed lower after a US aircraft crash spooked investors. Gainers included: Acambis Plc, AEA Technology, Allied Domecq, Anite Group Plc, Azlan Group Plc, BHP Billiton, Biocompatibles Plc, Boots Co. Plc, British American Tobacco, Capita Group Plc, Cenese Pharmaceuticals Plc, Computacenter Plc, David S. Smith Plc, Diageo Plc, Domino Printing Plc, Eidos Plc, Electrocomponent Plc, Galen Holdings Plc, Gallaher Group Plc, GKN Plc, Hays Plc, Indigovision Group Plc, Intec Telecom Plc, International Power Plc, Isoft Group Plc, ITouch Plc, Marlborough Stirling Plc, Meggitt Plc, Morse Plc, National Grid Plc, Orchestream Holdings, Powderject Pharmaceuticals, Provalis Plc, Regus Plc, Scipher Plc, Severn Trent Plc, Shire Pharmaceuticals Group, Skyepharma Plc, Telework Systems, Tempus Group Plc, Turbo Genset Plc, Whitbread Plc, Wolseley Plc, and Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries Plc.

REASONS FOR ACTIVITIES

• Airline, Aviation, Hotels, Leisure, booking services all closed lower after an American Airlines flight from New York City's JFK International Airport bound for Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic crash in the New York City Borough of Queens. The reason for the crash has not yet been identified.
• Regus gained another 26.39% today on news that it is initiating major cost cutting plans, and that CEO, Mark Dixon, bought another 1 million of the company's stocks.
• Marlborough Stirling gained 8.06% on a UBS Warburg upgrade to a "strong buy".
• Oil shares and prices closed lower after the Russian Federation's planned production cut is going to be only 35,000 barrels a day. OPEC meets on Wednesday in Vienna to decide on its cuts.
• Engineering firm GKN gained 0.26% after Lehman Brothers added it to its European Recommended List. ICI, which was replaced by GKN, lost 4.84%.
• Airports operator BAA lost 4.73% after reporting that traffic at its airports declined 12% in October, due to the September 11th. US terrorist attacks.
• HBOS lost 2.89% and pushed banking shares lower after analysts reasoned that the banking giant will have to raise about £7 billion annually to year 2006 in other to meet its ambitions growth plans.
• Provalis gained 43.48% after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved its Glycosal™ diabetes test to be prescribed for home use.
• Colt Telecom lost 7.91% after weekend press reported that minority shareholders will very likely reject the £400 million bail out package from US brokerage giant, Fidelity Investments.
• Redbus Interhouse lost 19.35% after reporting fiscal Q3 sales that declined 1.7% from the quarter before.
• Cenese Pharmaceuticals gained 2.63% after announcing that it will focus on central nervous system disorders and cut down on its cash burn rate so as to self funding in 2003.
• NetStore gained 2.60% after reporting fiscal Q1 losses that narrowed to £2.05 million, and turnover rose to £680,000.

• Galen Holdings gained on the eve of its earnings report, while Emap, Energis, Marconi, and Vodafone Group closed lower. 

PICKS FOR NEXT MARKET DAY

• The earnings reports from Energis, Marconi, and Vodafone Group will have a tremendous impact on the markets tomorrow.
• US after hours market doesn't look too bad. 

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