* FTSE up 0.9 pct, highest close since Feb. 18
* Earnings from Ford and UBS help spur gains
* Technology firms gain, ARM results eyed
By David Brett
LONDON, April 26 (Reuters) - Britain's FTSE 100 closed at
its highest level in over two months on Tuesday, albeit in light
volumes, as earnings from the U.S. and Europe supported gains
ahead of results from UK companies such as ARM and BP.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 <> closed up 0.9 percent at
6,069.36, with volumes still thin after the four-day Easter
weekend and ahead of another four-day holiday weekend starting
with the Royal Wedding on Friday.
Index volumes were just 66 percent of their 90-day average,
"Forecast beating earnings from both UBS <UBSN.VX> and Ford
Motor Co <F.N> have continued the positive theme emanating out
of company earnings recently to support equity markets," Joshua
Raymond, market strategist at City Index said.
Technology stocks were a feature following recent results
from U.S. peers including Apple <AAPL.O>, and some upbeat broker
comment.
ARM Holdings <ARM.L>, which reports first quarter results on
Wednesday, rose 3.4 percent as Citigroup raised its target price
on the British firm in a preview of upcoming first-quarter
results from European semiconductor groups.
Enterprise search software maker Autonomy Corp. <AUTN.L>
added 0.6 percent as Goldman Sachs, Investec, Canaccord Adams
all raised their target prices for the firm, whose first-quarter
results beat market forecasts on Thursday.
"Given the strong start to the year and correspondingly
strong commit/backlog metrics, consensus expectations continue
to look very conservative to us," Goldman says in a note.
Of the 17 FTSE 100 companies due to report in the current
quarterly earnings season, 18 percent have already done so with
67 percent missing estimates, with an average negative surprise
of 1.1 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.
IT firm Micro Focus International <MCRO.L> jumped 6.8
percent after saying it had received a takeover approach.
FED EYED
Slightly weaker were the miners <.FTNMX1770>, pausing
following their strong performance over the last three sessions
and ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on Tuesday.
The Fed's quantitative easing programme has fuelled bumper
gains for a range of commodities, so comments around the Fed
meeting will be closely watched for hints it could tighten
policy quicker than expected.
U.S. consumer confidence rose in April as inflation
expectations eased somewhat, a private sector report showed.
In the UK, integrated oils added the most points to the
index with heavyweight Royal Dutch Shell <RDSb.L> up 1.2.
UBS named the oil major as a top pick in the sector on
valuation grounds and remained positive on the prospects for the
integrated oils share prices.
BP <BP.L> gained 0.8 percent ahead of first-quarter results
due on Wednesday.
Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline <GSK.L> and UK bank Barclays
<BARC.L>, both due to report earnings in the next session, added
1 percent each.
International Airlines Group <ICAG.L> climbed 4.5 percent as
UBS named it the top pick among flagship carriers, saying shares
in European airlines could rise if the oil price stabilised and
recent trends in capacity started to come through.
Vodafone <VOD.L> rose 2.3 percent, adding around 8 points to
the FTSE, rebounding from Thursday's falls when the stock was
hit after Dutch peer KPN <KPN.AS> cut forecasts.
The FTSE technicals suggested further index upside is
possible, although the index has struggled to keep above these
levels since mid-February.
The bottom rung of the uptrend, around 5,870, had been given
"a fairly thorough examination recently and held up. So that is
a convincing and compelling reason to remain long of UK
equities, as far as I am concerned," Charles Stanley technical
analyst Bill McNamara said.
(Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)
