London close: Blue chips retreat on US slide
An early tumble on Wall Street sent London's leading index in to the red, with fading gains among the miners ensuring a gloomy finish.
FT owner Pearson fell despite announcing it was on track to report record profits for the last year at the upper end of expectations. Dealers blamed the slip on fading bid hopes and an ABN Amro downgrade.
British Airways was another loser on news that its cabin crew has given notice of their intention to hold a series of 72 hour strikes over the next month.
Meanwhile, a Credit Suisse downgrade had mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley in the mire, with the shares down to "underperform" from "outperform".
The Swiss broker, which also lowered its price target to 445p from 485p, warned that changes to mortgage deals will squeeze homeowners, particularly in the buy-to-let market.
Hotel giant InterContinental posted gains though after it emerged that the Barclay brothers' investment vehicle, Ellerman, has taken a 5% stake in the firm.
The group has been buoyed in recent weeks by reports of bid interest with suggestions that Starwood Capital is mulling a 1,500p per share bid.
The mining sector lost most of its early advantage, but Kazakhmys and BHP Billiton both closed ahead.
Mobile titan Vodafone helped limit the market's losses as UBS upped the group to "buy" from "neutral" and lifted its price target to 170p from 140p previously.
Broker comment also gave private equity outfit 3i Group a boost, with Dresdner Kleinwort repeating 'buy' advice and upping its target to 1,180p from 1,130p.
UK insurer Resolution was in demand as rumours did the rounds that US insurance goliath American International Group is on the prowl.
Building materials giant Wolseley recovered from an initial dip as it said it expects to make progress for the full year. Investors had earlier focused on its update that showed new housing starts in the US fell more sharply than originally expected
Further down, Russia-focused gold miner Peter Hambro Mining produced 261,000 ounces of gold in 2006, up 5% from the previous year. The questions on its mining licences, which arose in December 2006, are now resolved, it added.
Bookmaking group Ladbrokes has announced moves to expand its Nordic online gaming businesses with the acquisition of partner Sponsio.
There were losses for spread betting firm IG Group despite reporting a 45% hike in first half pre-tax profit following strong sales volumes across its businesses.
News that Autonomy's IDOL 7 software is to be deployed globally by GlaxoSmithKline sent the UK mid-cap skyward.
Elsewhere, Flying Brands warned that underlying full year profit will be marginally below previous guidance after a weak performance at its garden division. Like-for-like sales in the second half of 2006 were down 5% on the previous year.
Confectionery and snack foods group Zetar announced strong first half results today buoyed by its newly acquired businesses.
FTSE 100 - Risers
3i (III) 1,067.00p +2.11%
Capita Group (CPI) 647.50p +1.57%
Slough Estates (SLOU) 772.00p +1.51%
Drax (DRX) 739.00p +1.51%
Scottish and Newcastle (SCTN) 550.50p +1.01%
SABMiller (SAB) 1,206.00p +0.92%
Resolution (RSL) 657.50p +0.92%
Whitbread (WTB) 1,658.00p +0.91%
Hammerson (HMSO) 1,480.00p +0.89%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,052.00p +0.86%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Pearson (PSON) 817.50p -2.85%
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Enterprise Inns (ETI) 653.50p -2.02%
BAE Systems (BA.) 421.00p -1.98%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,072.50p -1.88%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 600.00p -1.88%
ITV (ITV) 106.50p -1.84%
Kingfisher (KGF) 227.00p -1.73%
British Airways (BAY) 536.00p -1.56%
Astrazeneca (AZN) 2,850.00p -1.38%
Smith and Nephew (SN.) 553.25p -1.34%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Bodycote (BOY) 235.50p +4.67%
Autonomy (AU.) 570.50p +4.39%
Weir Group (WEIR) 560.00p +2.75%
Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 371.00p +2.70%
Collins Stewart (CLST) 268.00p +2.68%
Chemring Group (CHG) 1,650.00p +2.48%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 313.75p +2.45%
Premier Foods (PFD) 320.00p +2.40%
John Wood Group (WG.) 252.50p +2.23%
GKN (GKN) 326.50p +1.95%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PartyGaming (PRTY) 27.75p -9.76%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 269.75p -4.68%
Benfield Group (BFD) 343.00p -4.46%
Woolworths Group (WLW) 33.00p -2.94%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 5,140.00p -2.79%
Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 1,200.00p -2.44%
Carphone Warehouse (CPW) 314.75p -2.25%
London Stock Exchange (LSE) 1,316.00p -2.16%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 393.00p -2.12%
Galiform (GFRM) 131.00p -2.06%
