London shares stage a stellar bounce back in early trade on Tuesday as bargain hunters scoop up discounted stocks after Monday's rough 6% blue-chips sell-off. The FTSE 100 rallies back over the 6,000 mark, up 135 points, or about 1.6%, to 6,036, matching gains seen across Europe's major indexes despite another hefty US sell-off overnight.
Miners lead on Tuesday, with BHP Billiton (BLT) and Glencore (GLEN) topping the Footsie leader board, although gold digger Randgold Resources (RRS) conversely is the day's biggest blue-chiip flop, down 1.6% at £40.81. BHP gains 5.8% to £10.23 as it outlines further cuts to capital expenditure and releases full year results for the 12 months to 30 June 2015. The iron ore miner needs less capital to grow in the future, according to chief executive Andrew Mackenzie.
In corporate news, pound shops chain Poundland (PLND) gains 5.5% to 348.25p, as the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) provisionally clears its acquisition of rival discounter 99p Stores.
Non-life insurer RSA (RSA) climbs 4.9% to 518.2p on hints that the b Zurich Insurance’s improved 550p a share offer for the More Than-owner to shareholders. This second bid values the company at £5.6 billion.
Elsewhere, DekelOil (DKL:AIM), operator and 51% owner of a palm oil project in Ivory Coast, cultivates a 5.4% rise to 1.08p. This is after flagging strong progress towards becoming the first crude palm oil producer in Ivory Coast, and potentially West Africa, to be certified by the Round Table for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
Office rental firm Regus (RGU) provides some respite for investors, surging 6.8% to 266p on the back of strong results in the six months to 30 June 2015. Revenue gained 16.4% to £937 million and underlying operating profit grew 62% to £86.3 million including joint ventures. Chief executive Mark Dixon says there are plans to open a further 600 locations by year-end, which would take its serviced offices above the 3,000 mark.
Bookmaker William Hill (WMH) gains 1.6% to 364.5p on news former Cineworld (CINE) chief financial officer Philip Bowcock will join the company as CFO on 1 November. He replaces Neil Cooper, who leaves on 6 November.
Abu Dhabi-focused private healthcare provider Al Noor Hospitals (ANH) gains 2.6% to 858.2p as second half revenue growth is expected to be higher than the 8.5% improvement to $244 million recorded in the six months to the end of June. An increase in the number of beds in its hospitals will also improve its earnings from the first half 1.6% fall to $44.9 million.
