The FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) has started the week in a bullish mood, gaining a further 33 points to reach 6,768 by noon with the index of top UK stocks boosted by good results from HSBC. If the FTSE keeps its winning run going this week, it will have achieved five straight weeks of gains and will be headed towards breaking its 13-year record of 6,876 points — and who knows, we might even see 7,000 before Christmas.
Individual rises are relatively few today, but we have had a handful of note. Here are three:
HSBC Holdings
A strong third-quarter update from HSBC Holdings (LSE: HSBA) this morning sent the bank shares up 16.6p (2.4%) to 704p by midday.
The highlights included a 10% rise in underlying pre-tax profit for the quarter to $5,056m, with the nine-month figure up 34% to $18,145m. Earnings per share for the year to date came in at 71 cents, and there’s going to be a third interim dividend of 10 cents per share to provide 30 cents for the year so far — forecasts suggest a full year yield of 4.7%.
Chief executive Stuart Gulliver said of the future “We see reasons for optimism with some evidence of a broadening recovery […] Our forecasts for global growth remain constant at 2.0% in 2013 and 2.6% in 2014“.
Anglo American
We’ve had a modest 24p (1.4%) rise in Anglo American (LSE: AAL) shares this morning, to 1,484p, after the diversified miner announced the completion of the sale of its Amapá iron ore operation in Brazil to Zamin Ferrous. The deal is worth an initial $134m.
But the mining sector is on one of its mini-rises today anyway, with Rio Tinto up 2.6%, Antofagasta up 2.6%, BHP Billiton up 1% and Glencore Xstrata up 0.3% — and it’s surely only a matter of time before the sector responds to the strengthening economic recovery.
TeleCity
Moving to the FTSE 250, TeleCity Group (LSE: TCY) enjoyed a good morning with its shares up 14.4p (2%) to 774p, after the data centre provider released an upbeat third-quarter update. Net order wins were up during the quarter, and the firm has added 5MW of capacity in Stockholm to improve its long-term prospects.
The full year should be in line with expectations, so we should be seeing a growth in earnings per share of close to 15%, following on from four years of rapid earnings rises. The shares are on a forward P/E of 21 now, but that might not be too stretching if growth hopes come to pass.