LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) enjoyed another good day, climbing 26 points to reach 5,962. That's just 27 points short of its 52-week high of 5,989 points, and the index of top U.K. stocks could even break that this week if the optimism continues.
Some individual constituents of the FTSE indexes took off today as well. Here are three whose prices are rising.
Halma (HLMA 0.20%)
Shares in Halma perked up 1.8% to 455 pence on the news that the health and safety technology specialist has acquired MicroSurgical Technology. The acquisition of MicroSurgical, which develops ophthalmic surgical products, was completed yesterday and cost an initial $57 million in cash, with up to an additional $43 million payable depending on future earnings.
Halma's shares have done well this year and are currently up about 35% from this time in December 2011.
Galliford Try (GFRD 0.74%)
Galliford Try shares gained 2.2% to reach 746 pence after the homebuilder confirmed the appointment of new finance director Graham Prothero, who will join the board on Feb. 1. But there was bad news, too, as group managing director Ian Baker has been forced to stand down due to "reasons of sudden ill-health." We wish him a speedy recovery.
Galliford Try's shares have surged along with the recovering homebuilding sector this year, and they're now up about 60% over the past year. And they're still not highly valued: They're on a forward price-to-earnings ratio of only 10.
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