Markets move higher, miners in vogue, new bid for CareTech

A good start to the week for European equities bodes well for investors hoping for their portfolios to be repaired after a damaging start to the year.

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said: “Germany’s DAX index jumped 1.6% thanks to strength in consumer-facing companies, miners, industrial groups and healthcare names. The top performer for automotive parts specialist Continental while Adidas was also in fashion.

“On the UK market, the FTSE 100 moved 0.3% higher to 7,228, driven by miners regaining favour with investors after a patchy session last week caused by a retreat in metal prices.

“The market has been concerned in recent weeks about the outlook for the global economy and how recession fears might translate into weaker commodities demand. Names like Rio Tinto lost share price momentum, and in many cases these big miners saw all their year-to-date share price gains wiped out.

“With big dividends on offer, investors have clearly been hovering over the ‘buy’ button following recent share price weakness and today seems to be the day these mining names are being added to portfolios once again.

“CareTech has been in play since March after the CEO and chairman declared an intention to bid for the group. A rival approach was then made by DBAY at a higher price and the CareTech directors have now come back and matched this proposal with a firm bid. It comes at the eleventh hour, given that DBAY has until 5pm tonight to make an actual offer rather than simply a proposal.”