London close: Miners and oils batter Footsie
London's blue chip stocks were left sharply lower on Thursday as the mining sector took a battering for a second day while oil stocks also came under pressure.
Heavyweight miners dominated the list of blue chip fallers, led by Xstrata, Kazakhmys, Vedanta and Antofagasta as copper prices extended recent losses on concerns about falling demand and rising stockpiles.
The red metal fell a further 3% today marking a 10% decline on the year so far.
Meanwhile oil prices also extended Wednesday's 4% fall, down more than 2% to below $57 a barrel. Milder than usual weather in North America has sent shares in BP, Shell and Cairn Energy into the red.
In better news, fashion retailer Next reported a 2.8% rise in combined sales for Next Retail and Next Directory for the period 31 July to 24 December, although like for like sales at the retail business fell 6.9%.
But dealers focused on news that the company expects annual profit before tax to be slightly ahead of market consensus, within the range of £463m to £473m. Marks & Spencer was up on the news.
Also in the sector, outdoor clothing retailer Blacks Leisure blamed an exceptionally mild and challenging autumn for an "extremely disappointing" Christmas while ceramics group Waterford Wedgwood said its major brands sold well during the festive period.
Telecoms group Cable & Wireless was up on reports of a bullish note from Investec following a meeting with the firm while ABN Amro downgraded British Gas owner Centrica to "hold" from "buy".
Morgan Stanley repeated "overweight" advice on cruise liner Carnival and hiked its price target to 3,150p noting that it is now one of the cheapest stocks in its sector. The comment sent the shares sharply higher.
Elsewhere, St James' Park Group, a consortium backed by Polygon Global Opportunities Master Fund, has pulled out of bid talks with English Premiership football club Newcastle United.
Private equity firm Blackstone has placed 40m shares in Southern Cross Healthcare at 318.75p each, raising £127.5m and giving the care home provider a boost.
Tarsus put on a good show after the exhibitions and conference firm said it continued to trade well in the second half of 2006, with the full year seen in line with expectations despite the weak dollar.
Following the sale of Dolcis, clothes and shoes retailer Alexon saw like-for-like sales for the rest of the group for the 22 weeks ended 30 December fall 4% on the previous year, it said in a trading update.
Door and window manufacturer Heywood Williams sees full year profit before tax, exceptional items and amortisation of intangibles in line with market expectations, thanks to newly acquired Carlisle Brass.
It said trading for the 12 months to 31 December 2006 has been healthy, with Carlisle Brass, bought for £48m in October, performing particularly well.
Meanwhile, office accommodation provider Workspace Group confirmed that it has converted to a tax efficient Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT), which it said would enable the payment of bigger dividends.
Online electronic trading platform business FFastFill admitted today that it has received an approach regarding a possible offer for the company.
FTSE 100 - Risers
William Morrison (MRW) 269.25p +2.67%
BT Group (BT.A) 319.25p +2.65%
Wolseley (WOS) 1,290.00p +2.14%
Astrazeneca (AZN) 2,846.00p +2.12%
Vodafone (VOD) 148.25p +2.07%
Shire (SHP) 1,092.00p +2.06%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,411.00p +1.66%
Cable and Wireless (CW.) 164.00p +1.55%
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) 461.00p +1.37%
Tesco (TSCO) 416.75p +1.34%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Cairn Energy (CNE) 1,715.00p -4.72%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,040.00p -4.32%
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International Power (IPR) 374.75p -4.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,546.00p -4.03%
Xstrata (XTA) 2,320.00p -4.01%
Drax (DRX) 731.50p -3.94%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 469.00p -3.89%
BHP Billiton plc (BLT) 900.00p -3.54%
Old Mutual (OML) 171.50p -3.52%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,118.00p -3.45%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Southern Cross Healthcare (SCHE) 345.00p +8.24%
SIG (SHI) 1,094.50p +4.64%
Davis Service Group (DVSG) 535.50p +2.39%
Helical Bar (HLCL) 474.00p +1.99%
Meggitt (MGGT) 320.00p +1.91%
FirstGroup (FGP) 590.50p +1.81%
Gyrus Group (GYG) 387.25p +1.64%
HMV Media (HMV) 146.75p +1.56%
Cobham (COB) 198.50p +1.53%
Warner Estate (WNER) 893.00p +1.48%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Pendragon (PDG) 101.00p -79.80%
Venture Production (VPC) 827.50p -5.37%
Burren Energy (BUR) 844.50p -5.01%
Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,177.00p -4.62%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 250.00p -4.58%
Expro International (EXR) 848.50p -4.39%
DS Smith (SMDS) 204.25p -4.22%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 647.00p -4.15%
Hochschild Mining PLC Ord 50p (WI) (HOC) 388.75p -3.77%
Hunting (HTG) 566.00p -3.74%
