Petrofac, Kingfisher and Thomas Cook brightened what would have otherwise have been a relatively uneventful day on the FTSE after the index closed down 0.4 per cent at 5,617.

Oilfield services specialist Petrofac led the way, gaining 3.4 per cent at 1201.0 pence as its surge continued following Tuesday’s results (read here), boosted further courtesy of a rating upgrade from Royal Bank of Scotland.

Kingfisher, the parent company of B&Q, rose by a similar percentage, finishing the day’s trading at 223.7 pence after rival Home Retail Group published a better-than-anticipated results update this morning (read here).

There were still messages of caution from some retailers, however, including WM Morrison, which noted that retail sales had been struck considerably by unusually wintry weather conditions.

The supermarket stock fell by nearly 3 per cent as a result, settling finally at 295.7 pence.

Sir Ian Gibson, non-executive chairman of WM Morrison said that the project to open 43 new stores went well, however.

He added, ‘We expect the economic environment to remain challenging, disposable incomes to be under pressure and value to remain a high priority for consumers.

‘The board believes that Morrisons unique offer of high quality, fresh food at great value prices will continue to attract customers from our competitors and drive market share growth in the year ahead.

‘For the longer term, we will continue to utilise our balance sheet strength to invest for growth, with new space, new manufacturing capability and new systems priorities in the year ahead.’

Dalton Philips takes up the role of chief executive officer of the company on 29 March.

TD Waterhouse
Top ten trades
Thursday 11 March (until 12 noon)

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Buy
1. Royal Bank of Scotland, 17.1 per cent
2. Lloyds Banking Group, 15.4 per cent
3. Xstrata, 11.8 per cent
4. Kazakhmys, 10 per cent
5. Barclays, 10 per cent
6. Desire Petroleum, 8.2 per cent
7. Randgold Resources, 7.1 per cent
8. Solo Oil, 6.8 per cent
9. Morrisons Supermarket, 6.8 per cent
10. Rio Tinto, 6.8 per cent

Sell
1. Lloyds Banking Group, 45.3 per cent
2. Royal Bank of Scotland Group, 10.8 per cent
3. Barclays, 10.3 per cent
4. BT Group, 5.4 per cent
5. Johnston Press, 5.2 per cent
6. Gulf Keystone, 4.9 per cent
7. Vodafone, 4.9 per cent
8. UK Coal, 4.5 per cent
9. Xstrata, 4.5 per cent
10. Prudential, 4.2 per cent