LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) is still looking pretty glum, having dropped a further 2% to close at 6,525 points today despite a general uptick for the mining sector. With companies like Tesco and ARM Holdings falling, the overall trend was down.
But even on a day like today, we still saw some rises across the various indexes. Here are two that are looking positive.
Associated British Foods (ABF 9.69%)
Associated British Foods shares gained 1.4% to reach 1,837 pence after the firm's wholly owned British Sugar subsidiary announced that it is to redeem some of its debt financing. The firm will repay its entire £150 million, 10.75% redeemable debenture stock 2013 on July 2, with all interest accrued to that date.
The boost has helped the Associated British Foods share price to reverse from recent minor falls -- but it's still up more than 60% over the past 12 months.
Bango (BGO 2.95%)
Looking to a much smaller company now, the wonderfully named Bango saw its shares pick up 3.8% to 204 pence. Today's boost came when the mobile web-payments and analytics company announced that it has signed an agreement with Mozilla to offer Bango as an option for content paid for via the Firefox Marketplace app store -- it should be launched this year.
The terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it's a big win for Bango's technology and services.
Finally, if you're looking for investments that should take you all the way to a comfortable retirement, I recommend the Fool's special new report detailing five blue-chip shares. They'll be familiar names to many, and they've already provided investors with decades of profits. But the report will only be available for a limited period, so click here to get your hands on these great ideas -- they could set you on the road to long-term riches.
