Gilts
Gilt futures rose after Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank of England, soothed concerns about inflation, but robust employment data capped gains and led to underperformance against bunds. March gilt futures settled 18 ticks higher at 114.61, lagging the equivalent bund contract, which was 50 ticks in the black.
Rumour of the day
Elephant Capital was unchanged at 57½p, despite speculation that Global Cricket Ventures, one of its portfolio companies, had sealed a deal with Google to show the Indian Premier League on its YouTube website. GCV owns the digital rights to the IPL. Elephant was also said to be closing in on a deal to buy Willow TV, which owns IPL rights in America.
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Deal of the day
Shares in Cape eased 10.7p to 240p, even though the energy services group signed a five-year deal with BP, worth more than £150 million, to provide fabric maintenance support and deck operations at all nine of the oil company’s UK North Sea assets, as well as onshore maintenance at the group’s Dimlington Gas Terminal.
Bet of the day
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London Stock Exchange fell 3½p to 696p before a trading update today. The group has faced tough competition for trading equities in recent times and missed revenue from a lack of floations. What will Xavier Rolet, its chief executive, say about 2010? Cantor Index offers a March contract-related spread of 697p to 700.1p.
Tiddler to watch
Cinpart rose 1¼p to 19½p after saying that its Active Energy business was in advanced discussions with a subsidiary of a British-focused blue-chip energy supplier about developing new markets for its VoltageMaster product, a range of transformers that it claims can save up to 20 per cent of electricity costs.