LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) doesn't seem to know where it's going these days. The slightest bit of news from Europe sends it up or own, only for it to revert back to form once the latest novelty has worn off.
But after yesterday's "Greece is saved -- wait, no it isn't" ups and downs, the FTSE 100 had a strong day today, along with other European indexes, finishing the day up 97 points to 5,588.
But there's still a long way to go before any of these daily and weekly meanderings turn into any kind of meaningful trend.
A good day for retail and telecoms
Early market movements today were reinforced in later trading, with Home Retail ending the day 23% up at 91 pence after full-year results showed that the slide in sales at its Argos high-street outlet has apparently been halted. Dixons Retail (LSE: DXNS.L) followed up its early-morning rise to end at 16 pence, ahead 17% on the day, on hopes that it too will see a retail recovery in its Thursday results.
Global telecoms giant Vodafone (Nasdaq: VOD) gained a modest 3 pence to 178 pence after announcing a successful outcome of its offer to buy Cable & Wireless Worldwide as part of its takeover deal.
Telecom tiddler Daisy Group, which has been making acquisitive inroads into the SME communications market, displayed a 31% growth in revenues in its preliminary results today and showed signs of underlying profitability. The result was a modest 1% gain to 94 pence.
An early 8% rise at Whitbread subsided a little after the restaurant and hotel chain released positive Q1 results, and the price settled to a 6.3% gain on the day, stopping at 1,965 pence.
Mixed results for engineers and techies
Engineer Kentz, which enjoyed a 7% morning rise on news that its order book is looking healthy, saw its gain strengthened later in the day to reach market close of 365 pence, up 12% on the day.
Military specialist Chemring Group (LSE: CHG.L), which lost in early trading after disappointing interims, saw its share price fall further during the day to end 10% down on 292 pence for a loss of 31 pence on the day. But online media experts Imagination Technologies (LSE: IMG.L) recovered a little from an early 8% fall to finish 5% down on 450 pence.
Diggers and delvers
In the natural-resources sector, Serica Energy released results of its latest seismic study in Namibia, and though it was favorable, the shares only moved up 1% to 24 pence. But Polo Resources enjoyed a 7% rise to 2.6 pence after it upped its estimates of its gold reserves in Sierra Leone. But sadly for Vatukoula Gold Mines, a disappointing Q3 update led its shares to lose 17% to end on 30 pence for the day.
Real-estate manager Hammerson lost 2.6% on the day after announcing the sale of its London office assets, finishing at 428 pence.
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