As leading shares edge lower after four days of gains, an exception is Vodafone.
The mobile phone group is up 2.6p at 177.1p after it won a long standing multi-billion dollar tax dispute in India. The country's supreme court has ruled that India's tax office has no jurisdiction over Vodafone's $11bn purchase of Hutchison Whampoa's Indian mobile business in 2007.
Vodafone lost the original court case but has now won the backing of the supreme court. It could have been forced to pay the tax office $2.2bn but instead is set to receive a $496m refund, plus interest. Vodafone had always argued the tax office could not claim payment for a deal between two foreign entities.
The company has ambitious plans in India although it has faced a number of setbacks. But if it has lost the case, there would have been a question mark over its commitment to further investment in the country. Analyst Jeffrey Vonk at ING Bank put a 212p price target on the shares following the ruling:
After now having more clarity on the Indian tax case, the next short term catalyst may be the Verizon fourth quarter numbers presented on 24 January, and the Vodafone third quarter key performance indicators presentation on 9 February. ING expects good Apple I-phone 4S sales for Verizon Wireless (where Vodafone has a 45% stake) and good results in Germany.
Vodafone of course is the subject of claims it was let off a £6bn tax bill in the UK, which has caused a storm of protest.
Overall the FTSE 100 has dipped 11.09 points to 5730.06 as investors await the latest developments in the eurozone crisis, in particular the outcome of discussions between Greece and representatives of its private bondholders.
