This morning in London, equities opened in positive territory on the back of strong overnight US and Asian gains. As in New York, energy stocks dominated the leaderboards, with oil stocks trading especially strongly as crude prices remained near a two-month high above $62 a barrel. Cairn Energy (CNE.L) rose 2.2% to 2003p and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA.L) rose by 1% to 1845p. Elsewhere miner Lonmin (LMI.L) rose 137p to 3132p. At 10.30 am the FTSE100 was ahead 9.8 points at 6,094.20.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
Altium Securities reiterates a buy rating and 92p target for Aurora Russia (AURR.L), a buy and 550p target for Debt Free Direct (DFD.L), a buy and 800p target for Holidaybreak (HBR.L), a reduce and 350p target for Carillion (CLLN.L) and a hold and 40p target for Sportingbet (SBT.L)
Bear Stearns upgrades Amlin (AML.L) to peer perform from underperform.
Bridgewell Securities downgrades Kensington (KGN.L) to overweight from buy, upgrades Future (FUTR.L) to overweight from neutral, has a neutral for FKI (FKI.L), an overweight for Bateman Litwin (BNLN.L), an overweight and 250p fair value for Fenner (FENR.L), a buy for Imperial Energy (IEC.L), an underweight for Provident Financial (PFG.L) and a buy for Topps Tiles (TPT.L)
Citigroup raises its rating for Prudential (PRU.L) to buy from hold and reiterates buy for BP (BP.L), cutting target to 660p from 675p. The broker has holds for Compass (CPG.L), Spirent (SPT.L), Old Mutual (OML.L) and Man Group (EMG.L), buys for Laird Group (LARD.L) and Liberty Group (LBE.L), a buy for Pendragon (PDG.L), cutting target to 605p from 615p and buys for Sage (SGE.L) and Vitrex (VCT.L)
Collins Stewart has a buy and 570p target for British Airways (BAY.L) and a hold and 534p target for Pennon (PNN.L)
Credit Suisse is neutral on Kingfisher (KGF.L) and has cut its rating for Northern Rock (NRK.L) to underperform from neutral. The broker initiates coverage of Tullow Oil (TLW.L) with an underperform and 410p target price, and has outperform for Wolseley (WOS.L), cutting target to £15.20 from £16. The broker has an outperform for Amlin (AML.L), raising target to 340p from 295p, a neutral and 425p target for Home Retail (HOME.L) and an outperform and £10.50 target for Smiths Group (SMIN.L)
Daniel Stewart upgrades Sportingbet (SBT.L) to buy from hold with a 47p target
Dresdner Kleinwort initiates coverage of ITV (ITV.L) with a buy and 130p target and upgrades Inchcape (INCH.L) to buy from add. The broker downgrades Morgan Crucible (MGCR.L) to reduce from add, reiterates hold for Cairn Energy (CNE.L) with a £18.98 target, has a hold for Kingfisher (KGF.L) with a 250p target and retains its overweight stance on Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE.L)
Evolution Securities reiterates a buy rating and 711p target for Prudential (PRU.L), and has an add and 275p target for Kingfisher (KGF.L). The broker says reduce Pennon (PNN.L), with a 507p target, has a buy and 130p target for Prosperity (PMHL.L), a reduce and 922p target, a buy and 450p target for Interserve (IRV.L), a buy and 119p target for FKI (FKI.L), an add and 850p target for Expro International (EXR.L), a buy and 350p target for Eros (EROS.L) and a buy and increased £11.25 target for Bovis Homes (BVS.L)
Goldman Sachs is neutral on GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), cutting target top £14.30 from £14.75, a neutral on iSoft (IOT.L), cutting target to 55p from 80p, a neutral for Johnson Matthey (JMAT.L), raising target to £13.75 from £13.50 and a buy for Kingston Communications (KCOM.L), raising target to 79p from 73p. The broker says buy Mitchells & Butlers (MAB.L), raising target to 700p from 620p and upgrades Xansa (XAN.L) to neutral from sell raising target to 77p from 71p.
ING has a hold for Scottish Power (SPW.L), raising target to £14 from £10.50
HSBC has lowered its rating for Royal Dutch Shell (RDSA.L) to underweight from neutral, cutting target to £18.70 from £18.96, initiates coverage of Next (NXT.L) with an overweight and £20.50 target and has a neutral for GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L), cutting target to £14.47 from £16.99
Investec upgrades Shed Productions (SHDP.L) to hold from sell, reiterates sell for Rentokil Initial (RTO.L), has a hold and 774p target for Holidaybreak (HBR.L), a buy for CoffeeHeaven (COH.L), raising target to 45p from 38p and raising estimates, has a hold for Kingfisher (KGF.L), a hold for FKI (FKI.L), cutting estimates and buys for Findel (FDL.L), Aurora Russia (AURR.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L) and Phoenix IT (PNX.L)
JP Morgan has an overweight and 300p target for Sage (SGE.L)
Kepler Teather & Greenwood reiterates buy Expro International (EXR.L), and has buys for Abbot Group (ABG.L), Angus & Ross (AGU.L), Holidaybreak (HBR.L), Rio Tinto (RIO.L), Sportingbet (SBT.L), United Business Media (UBM.L) and Business Post (BPG.L) and holds for BHP Billiton (BLT.L) and Dyson (DYS.L).
Lehman Bros upgrades EMI Group (EMI.L) to equal-weight from underweight maintaining its 320p target
Numis publishes a note on the technology sector, in which it raises ratings for Coda (CODA.L) to add from hold with a 181p target, Detica (DCA.L) to buy from hold 360p and Surfcontrol (SRF.L) to buy from add 550p. Elsewhere the broker has a hold and 52p target for Torex Retail (TRX.L), and has upgraded African Diamonds (AFD.L) to buy from add with a 165p target, Chaucer (CHU.L) to add from hold 100p, Provident Financial (PFG.L) to hold from reduce, 620p, Debt Free Direct (DFD.L) to buy from add 635p, Huntsworth (HNT.L) to buy from add 132p, Peter Hambro (POG.L) to buy from hold £13.50, QinetiQ (QQ.L) to add from hold 200p, Sportingbet (SBT.L) to buy from add 81p and VT Group (VTG.L) to buy from add 577p. The broker has downgraded Brewin Dolphin (BRW.L) to add from buy 200p, CoffeeHeaven (COH.L) to hold from add 38p, Findel (FDL.L) to add from buy 730pand Kingfisher (KGF.L) to hold from add 260p
Seymour Pierce retains its overweight stance among Lloyds' insurers raising estimates and target prices across the sector. The broker has upgraded Catlin (CGL.L) to buy from outperform with a 560p target, downgraded Hiscox (HSX.L) to outperform from buy, 300p, downgraded Brit Insurance (BRE.L) to hold from outperform, 305p, reiterates buy Amlin (AML.L) with a 350p target and has a hold for Wellington Underwriting (WUN.L)
UBS has a neutral for Compass (CPG.L), a buy for Informa (INF.L), raising target to 650p from 560p cuts target for Northern Rock (NRK.L) to £10.35 from £10.40 and has buys for Premier Farnell (PFL.L) and Sage (SGE.L) The broker reiterates buy and 450p target for VT Group (VTG.L)
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last night in New York, Wall Street rose for a second straight session after the government's latest GDP data showed the economy was in better shape than expected, easing concerns that growth was moderating too sharply. Major stock indices stayed in positive territory during the session, and energy stocks were heading the filed, with helped shares of energy stocks, with Exxon Mobil Corp and ConocoPhillips leading the charge. The Dow closed up 90.28 points at 12,226.73, the S&P500 closed ahead 11.89 points at 1,398.61, and the hi tech Nasdaq closed ahead 17.07 points at 2,429.07
