A cutting-back of economic stimulus is sure to come — just not today. But the reaction of the markets, pushing the FTSE 100 (FTSEINDICES: ^FTSE) up 94 points to 6,653 by early afternoon in response the US Federal Reserve’s decision not to start tapering yet, has emphasised the short-term thinking that drives prices these days. Are our biggest companies actually worth more today just because of the latest non-move? I really don’t think so.
Still, short-term movements do seem to grab the attention, so what’s on the up today? Here are three from the various indices that are rising:
Land Securities Group
Land Securities Group (LSE: LAND) shares gained 24.5p (2.7%) to 926p this morning, after the real estate investment trust announced a new acquisition. The trust is to buy a further 35.6% of the X-Leisure Unit Trust for £104m, taking its stake to 95%. At £590m it’s the UK’s biggest leisure fund, and is currently yielding around 6.3% per year.
Over the past 12 months, Land Securities shares have just about matched the FTSE with a gain of around 15%. It’s currently offering a forecast dividend yield of around 3.3%, and the shares are trading on a 3.4% discount to its net asset value of 959p per share.
Booker Group
Wholesaler Booker Group (LSE: BOK) saw its shares blip up 3.1p (2.3%) today to 136.4p, taking them up more than 40% over the past year. A second-quarter update was behind the jump, telling us of a 19.3% rise in total revenue for the quarter and 16.5% for the half, with like-for-like sales up 3.5% in Q2 and 2.3% in H1.
The balance sheet is looking good too, with net cash of £123m compared to £70m a year ago. First-half results should be with us on 17 October.
EVRAZ
Shares in steel producer EVRAZ (LSE: EVR) got a welcome boost, up 4.5p (3.3%) to 139.4p, on the announcement of a new disposal. Coming just a few days after the sale of its heat and power station in Novokuznetsk in Russia, the firm has now agreed to sell its Vysokogorsky iron ore mining and processing plant for $20m. There is a deal for Vysokogorsky to continue to supply EVRAZ with iron ore and to process some of its byproducts.
According to vice president for iron ore and major projects Marat Atnashev, the sale is part of the company’s plan to “focus our efforts on large scale and low cost operations supporting the efficient vertical integration of the company“.
