Beer giant Heineken refreshed European markets after it delivered better-than-expected results amid “challenging but improving” economic conditions.
The confidence boost from Heineken, which followed a decent session for Asian markets, helped the FTSE 100 Index climb 33.1 points to 6070.5, a rise of 0.5%.
The risers board in London featured a number of property stocks after HSBC and Goldman Sachs upgraded a number of stocks in the sector, including Land Securities and British Land, up 15.5p to 717.5p and 10p to 553p respectively.
Anglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton provided the other major focus after its 71% jump in half-year profits to 10.5 billion US dollars (£6.5 billion) and pledge to return 10 billion US dollars (£6.2 billion) to shareholders this year.
The company was also “cautiously optimistic” about the short-term outlook for the global economy but shares still edged 18.75p lower to 2481.75p.
In the UK retail sector, Thorntons shares fell 9.75p to 89.25p after it revealed a drop in half-year profits and said trading so far in 2011 has been weak.
And Game Group shares were 1p lower at 71p as it outlined plans to increase sales over the internet as part of a turnaround strategy.
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