Gains in Standard Life and WPP stocks lift Footsie to two-month high

FTSE: 6,069.90 (+1.74) Mid-250: 12,013.88 (+118.86) Small Cap: 3,311.47 (+30.23)MOST UK stocks climbed yester- day, sending the benchmark FTSE 100 Index to the highest level in more than two months, as Standard Life and WPP gained after releasing earnings.

The FTSE 100 rose less than 0.1 per cent to 6,069.9 at the close in London as two stocks gained for each that fell.

The benchmark gauge has climbed 0.9 per cent this week. The FTSE All-Share Index added 0.2 per cent yesterday.

The UK market is closed today for Prince William’s marriage to Kate Middleton.

“It’s been a quiet day for the London index as the market eases into another long weekend,” said David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index.

“Next week, as markets regain their usual momentum, we’re set to see the agenda being dominated by earnings news from a number of the banks,” he said.

Standard Life jumped 3.2 per cent to 226.1p after Scotland’s biggest insurer posted a 25 per cent rise in first-quarter revenue to £5.8 billion ($9.7 billion) on higher demand for corporate pension products in the UK.

WPP gained 2.9 per cent to 781.5p after the world’s largest advertising company raised its forecast for like for like revenue to increase to more than 6 per cent for 2011. The Dublin-based company, which owns ad agencies including Young and Rubicam and Ogilvy and Mather, reported a 7 per cent gain in first-quarter revenue to £2.22 billion.

International Power rallied 3.3 per cent to 330.6p after the UK-based utility said first-quarter sales rose 9 per cent from a year earlier to €4.05 billion ($6 billion).

Unilever dropped 2.4 per cent to 1,942p after the world’s second-biggest consumer-goods company reported first-quarter sales that missed estimates and said profitability will drop in the first half.

AstraZeneca retreated 3.5 per cent to 2,990p after Britain’s drug maker reported sales in the first quarter of $8.29 billion, falling short of the $8.41 billion average analyst estimate.

Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering drug that was AstraZenenca’s best-selling medicine last year, had revenue of $1.48 billion, up 14 per cent.

Shire lost 2.7 per cent to 1,850p. The drug maker reported a 24 per cent increase in first-quarter profit to $235.4 million as doctors prescribed more of the Vyvanse attention-deficit drug. – (Bloomberg)