[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – Balfour Beatty wins £150 million Hong Kong University deal. The pub chain operator J D Wetherspoon annual net drops 29%. The recruiting company SThree in its trading update said permanent staffing demand is still weak. 888Holdings Plc surged 12% after it signed a deal with Harrah’s Entertainment.[/R]

In London FTSE 100 Index closed higher 34.51 or 0.6% to 5,022.19 and the pound closed higher at $1.67 and unchanged at 1.14 euros.

For the week, FTSE 100 index increased 3.3%.

Gainers & Losers

888 Holdings PLC surged 10.3% to 94.10 pence after the online casino signed a long-term agreement with Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

Balfour Beatty plc declined 0.1% to 358.50 pence after its Hong Kong subsidiary Gammon Construction in which the group has a 50% shareholding was awarded the Centennial Campus contract by the University of Hong Kong valued at HK$2 billion (£150 million).

Global Petroleum Limited increased 9.3% to 7.93 pence.

Intelek plc the design and manufacture of electronic systems for satellite and microwave communications rose 4.9% to 16.00 pence.

J D Wetherspoon plc added 1.4% to 523.50 pence after the pub chain said full-year sales rose 5.2% to £955.1 million. Net profit for the full-year fell 29% to £25.3 million or 18.2 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £35.5 million or 25.1 pence per share a year ago.

N Brown Group plc rose 1.1% to 233.50 pence after the home shopping specialist said it acquired certain assets of High & Mighty Ltd from the joint administrators from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.

Quintain Estates and Development plc surged 11.5% to 226.50 pence after the property developer sold units in The Quercus Healthcare Property Partnership for a total cash consideration of £31.3 million.

Rockhopper Exploration Plc surged 47.8% to 86.49 pence after the oil and gas explorer said that it agreed on the terms for a farm-in of one of its licenses with a third party energy company. The company has four production licenses covering 3,800 square kilometer off the coast of Falkland Island basin.

SThree Plc advanced 3.7% to 280.00 pence after the recruitment firm said third quarter gross profit fell 34% from a year ago to £37.6 million compared to gross profit of £56.9 million.

Tesco PLC increased 2.1% to 386.60 pence.

Vedanta Resources plc increased 2.5% to 1,934.00 pence after the diversified metals and mining companies raised its offer for the purchase of Asarco, the bankrupt US copper miner, by $500 million for $2.56 billion in cash competing with the rival offer by Grupo Mexico.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 62 increased, 39 declined and 1 were unchanged.

Hotel Retail Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 4.72% followed by losses in Burberry Group Plc of 1.88%, in TUI Travel Plc of 1.80%, in BT Group Plc of 1.63%, in Standard Life Plc of 1.46%.

Man Group Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 8.89% followed by increase in Fresnillo Plc of 5.07%, in International Power Plc of 3.53%, in Autonomy Corporation Plc of 3.30%, in Lonmin Plc of 3.24%.