Market update: Royal Mail shares soar on London debut – 11.10.2013

Source: Henderson Global Investors

Wall Street closed sharply higher yesterday with both the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 up 2.2% as investors were encouraged by signs of progress in fiscal negotiations in Washington. In stock news, shares in restaurant operator Ruby Tuesday slumped 17.1% after reporting a larger-than-expected quarterly loss. Elsewhere, Citrix Systems, the cloud computing software maker estimated quarterly results below analysts’ expectations due to delayed contracts. The shares fell 11.9%.

European stocks are higher this morning with the FTSE 100 up 0.5% and the FTSE Eurofirst 300 gaining 0.3%. The UK logistics group, Royal Mail, debuted on the London market following its 330p-a-share initial public offering. In early trade, the shares leapt to 450p, a 36% premium to the offer price, and after an hour more than 100m shares had been traded. Among the fallers was Chemring, which plummeted 18% after the defence group issued a profit warning, blaming the US government shutdown, the dollar exchange rate and Middle East tensions.