London close: Leading shares end flat
London's top stocks ended the day flat as a further flurry from miner Rio Tinto subsided almost immediately, while a lacklustre start on Wall Street also impacted sentiment.
Rio Tinto shares jumped as high as 22% just before close but they retreated straight away as rumours circulated that an offer from BHP was imminent. Kazakhmys, Xstrata, Anglo American and Vedanta have all risen in sympathy.
Antofagasta on the other hand was lower after ABN Amro downgraded copper producer from hold to sell.
General retail is seeing good gains. Electronics retailer DSG raced ahead after Morgan Stanley upgraded the high street electrical retailer to 'equal-weight' from 'underweight'.
Pub group JD Wetherspoon says costs in getting ready for the smoking ban and new beer and wine chilling systems will mean full year profits coming in marginally below current market expectations. For the 13 weeks to end April, like-for-like sales increased by 3.4%. Year-to-date like-for-like sales have increased by 6.1%.
Software giant Sage was down after posting underlying first-half profits of £121.8m, at the lower end of market forecasts, though it added it is still confident for 2007.
A number of papers this morning note the cool response to Thomson's £8.5bn cash-and-shares takeover bid for Reuters which is put down to worries over regulators' approval and a concern that the trust set up to protect the independence of Reuters may not accept the company passing into the control of Canada's billionaire Thomson family.
Sugar and sweeteners group Tate & Lyle admitted today it is in advanced discussions with Syral, a subsidiary of Tereos of France, concerning the sale of certain of its European starch operations.
Consumer packaging firm Rexam was also down despite reaching an agreement with the United Steelworkers Union yesterday, ending strikes at nine of its plants.
Mail order group N Brown stormed ahead on the second line. Sales in the 10 weeks to 5 May have grown 17.9%, with online sales up 47%.
No-frills airline Easyjet more than halved its first half losses to £17m from £40m as revenue climbed by 14% to £719m. For the second half, Easyjet says it has reduced many fares and increased promotional activity to sustain high load factors in weaker market conditions.
IT services firm Dimension Data said the first half of 2007 saw a strong trading performance, helped by stronger than expected revenue growth in Africa and Europe.
Scott Wilson raced ahead after the international engineering consultancy said it is confident of beating full year expectations following good progress in the second half.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,660.00p +10.74%
BHP Billiton plc (BLT) 1,249.00p +5.40%
DSG International (DSGI) 176.30p +5.13%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 690.00p +4.15%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,929.00p +3.87%
Xstrata (XTA) 2,800.00p +3.28%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,899.00p +2.93%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,420.00p +2.45%
Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) 559.25p +2.24%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,201.00p +1.95%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Old Mutual (OML) 175.20p -3.20%
Rexam (REX) 526.00p -3.04%
Reuters Group (RTR) 612.00p -2.86%
Liberty International (LII) 1,230.00p -2.69%
(Article continues below)Advertisement
Prudential (PRU) 782.00p -2.49%
Sage Group (SGE) 262.25p -2.24%
Compass Group (CPG) 356.25p -1.99%
Resolution (RSL) 651.50p -1.96%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 652.50p -1.81%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,799.00p -1.59%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Merrill Lynch World Mining Trust (MLW) 585.00p +6.36%
N Brown (BWNG) 317.00p +5.67%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 431.50p +4.35%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 372.50p +4.34%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 45.75p +3.39%
BlueBay (BBAY) 503.75p +3.23%
FKI (FKI) 126.75p +3.05%
SThree (STHR) 511.75p +2.97%
William Hill (WMH) 643.50p +2.71%
Candover Investment (CDI) 2,123.00p +2.46%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Wetherspoon (JDW) 670.00p -5.63%
easyJet (EZJ) 598.00p -5.30%
Dunelm (DNLM) 199.00p -4.78%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 315.00p -4.18%
Mapeley (MAY) 3,631.00p -3.99%
Mitie Group (MTO) 230.00p -3.97%
Wincanton (WIN) 362.00p -3.79%
Catlin Group (CGL) 507.00p -3.75%
Workspace Group (WKP) 440.00p -3.72%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 405.00p -3.57%
