Finally, after six weeks of losses and a two-month low last week, we see the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) starting the week on the up — so far today we’ve had a rise of 57 points to 6,497. There really is nothing much in the way of news, but it just seems the market has no appetite for further sell-offs today. Will we see much of a recovery before the year is out? I don’t think it’s looking likely.
But we do have some cheer for some individual shares. Here are three heading upwards today:
BG Group
BG Group (LSE: BG) (NASDAQOTH: BRGYY.US) shares gained 17p (1.4%) to 1,234p after the we got an update on the firm’s Queensland Curtis LNG project in Australia.
BG has now completed the laying of 540 kilometres of one-metre diameter pipe, enabling gas to be transported from the Surat coal basin to its liquefaction terminal on Curtis Island — and the first gas has arrived.
Chief executive Chris Finlayson said “To have first gas on Curtis Island in a little over three years from project sanction is an immense achievement“. It does sound impressive.
Carillion
In May, construction firm Carillion (LSE: CLLN) was named as the preferred bidder for the new £335m Royal Liverpool University Hospital, and today told us it has achieved financial close on the deal.
Carillion will invest around £15.5m in the project, and expects to generate £200m in revenue over the 30 years of the contract. Work should take three years, starting in early 2014.
The share price responded with a 10.1p (3.4%) rise to 312p, but it is still down a few percent since this time a year ago.
RPC Group
RPC Group (LSE: RPC) shares got a 17.5p (3.3%) boost to 548p on news of an acquisition.
The plastic-packaging firm has bought up Maynard & Harris Group, snapping up the supplier of rigid plastic packaging to the healthcare and other markets for a total of £103.5m. The takeover was funded from existing debt facilities.
RPC shares are now up nearly 40% over 12 months.