LONDON -- Today the FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE ) opened slightly positive, faltered and fell back, and then climbed in afternoon trading as American markets moved upward. As I write, it stands on 5,667 points, 38 points up on the day. That's still far down from the 52-week high of 5,966 points it reached on March 16, but it's much better than the 52-week low of 4,944 set on Oct. 4 last year.
Individual companies continue to reach new highs and lows every day. Here's a look at three shares from the FTSE indexes that have reached new highs this week.
Investment trust success
During tough times, it can pay to follow the best investors -- like Neil Woodford, head of Invesco Perpetual. But how can we tell if they're any good? One way is when we see the investments they run soaring ahead, and Mr. Woodford's Edinburgh Investment Trust (LSE: EDIN.L ) has done just that: On Monday it hit a new 52-week high of 510 pence, having pulled nicely ahead of the FTSE 100 over the past two years.
You can follow the great man with your own stock picks by having a read of "8 Shares Held By Britain's Super Investor," in which top Motley Fool analysts take a close look at some of Mr. Woodford's individual investments. Click here to get your copy, while it's still free.
Clear skies ahead
Airlines are shunned by many investors for being at the mercy of fuel prices and having little or no competitive advantage. But you'd have done well to buy easyJet (LSE: EZJ.L ) shares a year ago, as they have piled up more than 80% to reach a high of 565 pence on Tuesday.
May's interim figures showed an improvement in pretax loss (for the winter low season) of 26.8% to 112 million pounds, and passenger numbers for May and June have been growing nicely. There should be a dividend on for the end of the year.
Booze up
The beer business has been going through a bit of a resurgence, too, and I was pleased to see Marston's (LSE: MARS.L ) reach a 52-week high of 108.8 pence on Wednesday after being flat for some time. That's a rise of 15% since the shares' resurgence started just over a month ago, and the long term is looking good.
Forecasts suggest a 5.5% dividend yield for the year to September 2012, rising to 5.8% next year, and those payouts should be well-covered by earnings.
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