Market report: Wednesday close
HIGH STREET electrical retailer
Cutting the stock to underweight from neutral and setting a fair value target of 155p, JP Morgan flagged up margin pressure this year and next and a likely sales slowdown. The shares were off ¾pp at 159¾p.
Meanwhile, Kesa Electricals dropped 1p to 316½p after a downgrade from the same broker to neutral from overweight. Although it pushed its target slightly higher to 320p, the broker believes there is limited upside potential in the near term after a strong run.
After a bright start, the FTSE 100 index gave up most of its early gains and, at 4847.1, was 3.9 points higher. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened 11.3 higher at 10,472.9 in New York.
J Sainsbury was among the index leaders, 4p to 281½p, on hefty volume amid rumours 4% of its equity is being placed at about 290p a share, reviving speculation that a full takeover offer could emerge for the troubled supermarkets chain.
Cable & Wireless led the Footsie gainers, 3p to 122p, on upbeat broker comments. A Goldman Sachs upgrade today followed similar action yesterday by Morgan Stanley analysts, who raised their target to 140p from 120p after thirdquarter figures.
WPP also outperformed, rising 6p to 569p, as the advertising giant's Sir Martin Sorrell was reported making upbeat comments about 2004 trading.
BP rose 9½p to 532½p as Citigroup upgraded Britain's biggest oil stock to buy from sell. Although reports emerged claiming the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) cartel is unlikely to cut production quotas at this weekend's meeting, there is little prospect of a significant weakening in oil prices in the near future.
Burren Energy bounced off an intraday low of 443p but was still down 5¾p at 465p after its major private equity backers sold 22m shares.
Burren also narrowly missed its 2004 production target - output averaged 14,200 barrels a day across its fields in Turkmenistan and the Congo last year, against analysts' targets of 14,500. However, in the context of its recent share-price performance, the losses do not look too bad - the shares have almost tripled in value since it floated just over a year ago.
Chip designer ARM Holdings slumped 6¾p to 98p. Despite strong fourth-quarter revenue figures, concerns remain over growth prospects and how effective its Artisan business will prove.
Majestic Wine was down 1p at 275½p after announcing the placing of 9.55m shares at 250p.
Media firm Chrysalis, which owns Heart 106.2, reported a 3% decline in radio advertising revenue in the five months to end-January, which it said was down to general trends in the national market place and a decline in the company's listening figures. The shares slipped ¾p to 183p.
Although Chrysalis has detected 'signs of improvement' in the advertising market this year, and remains hopeful about recovering lost market share, the downbeat statement follows similar revenue declines at GWR and Capital Radio.
Up-for-sale property developer Minerva fell 3½pp to 263¼p on speculation an administrator could soon be appointed to break up the assets of Allders, the ailing department stores chain of which it owns 60% and in which it has invested £17.4m.
