London shares open up, Wall Street supports, Smiths Group gains on disposal plan

London shares open up, Wall Street supports, Smiths Group gains on disposal plan

	Published : Mon, 15 Jan 2007 09:45 By : Agencies Print this Story

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares started the week on a strong footing after Wall Street rallied from lows on Friday, with news of Smiths Group's planned disposal of its aerospace division well received, although lingering inflationary concerns were seen limiting gains.

At 8.20 am, the FTSE 100 was up 33.3 points at 6,272.9, with the broader indices also higher.

Among shares leading the index higher, Smiths Group paced early gainers, up 150 at 1,100 after investors welcomed news of its 4.8 bln usd sale of its aerospace division to GE.

Smiths said it had also agreed with General Electric to form a security equipment joint venture in which Smiths will hold a 64 pct stake and GE will own 36 pct.

Elsewhere, Cairn Energy rose 77 to 1,738 after the Times of India said India's oil ministry had approved a proposal from Cairn India, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy and Oil & Natural Gas Corp, to jointly build a pipeline to move crude oil from their field in western Rajasthan state.

In earnings news, Vedanta rose 38 to 1,148 after investors welcomed news the copper and zinc miner's earnings surged 174 pct in the third quarter, buoyed by strong metal prices and production.

On the downside, BT Group eased 2-3/4 pence to 313 after being cut to are duce' from 'neutral' by UBS saying it believes it is time to take profits after the stock's strong run.

On Friday, the Dow rose 41.10 to 12,556.08. Despite the gains, the Dow didn't surpass its trading high of 12,580.35 set Jan 3. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 6.91 to 1,430.73, and the Nasdaq composite rose 17.97 to 2,502.82.

US markets are closed today for Martin Luther King day.

Over in Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei closed 152.91 points or 0.9 pct higher at 17,209.92, off a high of 17,273.58, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index ended the half way point up 289.49 points at 19,902.90.

Among resources, light sweet crude for delivery in February, was up 0.36 usd at 53.35 usd a barrel from 52.99 usd in late trading in the US Friday. Brent North Sea crude for February was up 0.14 usd at 53.09 usd.

Gold jumped more than 1 pct in late European trade on Friday, supported by technical buying and a fall in the dollar. Spot gold was at 625.25 ounce in Asian trade.

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