London close: Footsie tails off
London's blue chips ended the day quietly with most of the gains seen earlier in the day wiped out following a modest opening on Wall Street.
Northern Rock is again one of the best performers on talk that a bid is just around the corner with US bank Citigroup reportedly ready to provide well over £5bn in financing to ease the way.
Other mortgage banks did not fare as well with the Bank of England decision to keep rates on hold unsettling HBOS and Alliance & Leicester.
A better than feared update from Marston's put the brewer and pub owner in the blue, and injected some fizz into blue chip rivals Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns.
Marston's, the former Wolverhampton & Dudley warned that full year pre-tax profit is seen "slightly" below expectations due to higher interest rates, flood related repair costs and poor summer weather. But brokers noted that Marston's was the hardest hit of the pub firms by the floods, so today's outcome is a little ahead of its expectations. Pre-exceptional earnings are seen in line with expectations.
Miners were weak and went lower as the day wore on. Rio Tinto, Lonmin, BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Antofagasta, Xstrata are in the red.
Abbot is the strongest FTSE 250 company by far after the oil services contractor confirmed it has received proposals which may lead to an offer being made for the company.
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Computer aided design specialist Aveva was also on the rise after it said it sees full-year results ahead of expectations thanks to buoyant market conditions.
Interdealer broker ICAP predicts pre-tax profits for the full-year at the upper end of analysts' current forecasts as it benefits from higher volatility in the interest rate, foreign exchange, energy and credit markets.
Car and bicycle parts retailer Halfords is confident about the second half after it saw sales for the 26 weeks to 28 September rise 8.5% on last year with like for like sales up 5.5%.
Specialist recruitment consultancy Michael Page toasted a record third quarter profit today of £123.4m, 38.5% better than the same period last year.
Elsewhere, Inchcape, the international car seller, is expanding its presence in Russia through the acquisition of two dealerships based in St. Petersburg.
Fashion clothing chain Ted Baker has reported flat half year profits, but said this was slightly better than it expected due to a shift in profit phasing from the first to second half.
Parcel and mail delivery group Business Post said Thursday that group revenues for the first half increased by 9% on the same period last year.
