Shares in Dowlais rose after an American investor disclosed a stake in the engineering group.
Baltimore-based T Rowe Price owns 5.32 per cent of the GKN spin-off, according to the latest regulatory filing. The US investment house also has stakes in the so-called ‘Magnificent Seven’ tech stocks, including Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla, which are Wall Street’s most valuable companies.
And it owns shares in London-listed firms such as Next (up 0.8 per cent, or 70p, to 8470p), Shell (up 1.3 per cent, or 33p, to 2497p) and Unilever (up 1.2 per cent, or 48.5p, to 4029.5p).
In a further dose of good news, Dowlais was handed a vote of confidence from the City.
Barclays said the FTSE 250 company ‘ticks the right boxes’ against the top criteria that investors will look for this year, including strong earnings momentum.
Stake: Baltimore-based T Rowe Price owns 5.32 per cent of GKN spin-off Dowlais
Analysts at Jefferies said that Dowlais shares, which floated last year, took a hit from factors such as US car makers going on strike. Dowlais produces drivetrain components, effectively parts that connect a car’s engine to the wheels. With the stock the cheapest in its industry, the broker believes investors will drive up its value. Shares gained 3 per cent, or 2.62p, to 90.52p.
Dowlais floated in London in April last year as a standalone automotive company after it was spun out of GKN by the blue-chip firm Melrose (flat at 610.8p), which has focused its attention on the aerospace business. Melrose bought GKN for £8.1billion in 2018.
The FTSE 100 rose 1.5 per cent, or 114.18 points, to 7711.71 and the FTSE 250 inched up 0.5 per cent, or 92.31 points, to 19191.93.
The top index clocked up one of its best sessions so far this year as hopes over interest rate cuts in China lifted Asia-focused stocks.
Insurer Prudential rose 3.3 per cent, or 26.8p, to 834.4p, and lender Standard Chartered increased 2.4 per cent, or 13.8p, to 594.6p.
High copper prices boosted mining giants, with Rio Tinto up 3.5 per cent, or 187p, to 5515p, Antofagasta adding 5.7 per cent, or 95.5p, to 1785p and Anglo American climbing 2 per cent, or 35.2p, to 1802.2p. But Petra Diamonds, another miner, sank into the red following a slump in sales. Shares slid 6.4 per cent, or 2.8p, to 41p.
There was some love shown towards The Works after Kelso Group, which invests in small and mid-cap British companies such as THG (down 2.1 per cent, or 1.42p, to 67.28p) and Angling Direct (flat at 39p), bought shares in the arts and crafts firm on Valentine’s Day.
It snapped up 345,000 shares at around 24.03p each, taking its stake to almost 6pc.
Two Kelso directors also took up seats on the board of The Works.
Shares in The Works rose 4.5 per cent, or 1.1p, to 25.65p and Kelso Group lost 1.6pc, or 0.05p, to 3p. Podcast publisher Audioboom hit a milestone. Its podcasts were downloaded by more than 38.6m listeners worldwide in January, a monthly record. Shares, however, were flat at 237.5p.
Centrica extended its gains a day after it reported that profits at British Gas hit £751m last year – up from £72m in 2022 – as the business recouped money lost during the energy crisis. Shares added 2.1 per cent, or 2.9p, to 139.1p.
It was another bruising session for Close Brothers. The merchant bank plunged 22.5 per cent on Thursday after it scrapped its dividend and warned of ‘significant uncertainty’ over the Financial Conduct Authority’s investigation into the potential misselling of car loans between 2007 and 2021. The stock took another tumble, falling 3 per cent, or 9.2p, to 299.2p.
On Thursday, animal genetics firm Genus warned that turmoil in the Chinese pig and dairy markets will hit profits, wiping nearly £230m off its value. But yesterday shares rose 0.3 per cent, or 6p, to 1786p.
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