U.K. Stocks Rise; Phones Lead as Mobile Growth Seen Quickening
By David Tweed
London, Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- U.K. stocks rose as signs
Europe's mobile-phone market is growing faster than expected
lifted shares of companies such as Vodafone AirTouch Plc and
British Telecommunications Plc. Oil stocks rose in step with a
gain in the price of crude.
The U.K. benchmark FT-SE 100 Index rose 11.2 points, or 0.2
percent, to 6395.1. Three stocks rose for every two that fell in
the FT-SE All-Share Index, which added 4.94 points to 2997.53.
The FT-SE index for smaller companies edged 6.3 points higher to
2811.7, setting its tenth record in as many days.
Mobile-phone shares' gains came after Spanish cellular-phone
companies reported a combined 56 percent increase in subscriber
numbers for the seven months through July. In Germany, Deutsche
Telekom said it expects to exceed its earlier forecast of raising
its mobile-phone customer base to 8 million users by year-end.
``Vodafone will dominate the mobile-phone industry,' said
Tim Bray, who helps manage about $1 billion of European stocks at
Union WorldInvest. ``Mobile phones will take over from fixed-
line. You've got to have Vodafone in your portfolio.'
Vodafone, the world's largest wireless-phone company, jumped
22p to 1,320, for a five-day gain of 14 percent, while BT rose
12p to 1,005. BT is the U.K.'s biggest telephone company, and
owns BT Cellnet Ltd., the U.K.'s second-ranked cellphone
operator. Together BT and Vodafone own Airtel SA, which has a 32
percent share of the Spanish mobile market.
Their gains helped push the FT-SE telecommunications
services index 1 percent higher. The index has surged 9.8 percent
in six days. |
