London close: Commodity plays damage Footsie
Miners were by far the worst performers Tuesday, dragging London's leading index deep into the red as investors bagged profits following the recent commodities boom.
A weak start on Wall Street did London no favours as Antofagasta, Xstrata, BHP Billiton and Anglo American finished among the biggest losers.
Oil plays also headed south as US light crude for December delivery pulled back from a record near $94 to trade down closer to $92 a barrel in New York. BP, Shell and BG all ended the day in the red.
Lower than expected earnings per share at Dutch telecoms firm KPN following a one-off tax charge had Vodafone in negative territory, in line with European peers. Reports also suggest it is poised to buy out the minority interests in German fixed-line business Arcor.
Index heavyweight GlaxoSmithKline joined in the retreat as investors continued to fret about the firm's diabetes treatment Avandia and its future use in the US.
On the results front, cigarette group Imperial Tobacco fell on profit taking and disappointment that its acquisition of Altadis will not complete until January. The Lambert & Butler group posted a 6% rise in full year profits to £1.24bn on revenues of £3.28bn, up 4%.
Fund manager Schroders was the best performer after it lifted third quarter profit before tax by 53% to £98.1m, with the total for the first nine months of 2007 up 45% to £283.7m. Funds under management at the end of September were little changed at £137.7bn. Rival Invesco was up in sympathy.
Satellite broadcaster BSkyB rallied after yesterday's subscriber numbers, while housebuilders Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon have bounced off recent lows.
Away from blue chips, computer chip designer Wolfson Microelectronics' fell despite third-quarter revenue rising by a better than expected 21% to a record $70.4m, though profits fell to $10.7m from $16.5m after one-off costs. Fourth quarter revenues are forecast to be in the range of $66m-$72m, resulting in anticipated full year 2007 revenues of between $226m and $232m, up 11%-14% over 2006.
Estate agent Humberts has blamed the credit crunch for a warning that profits will be below market expectations for the year to September. "While the group was profitable in September as a whole, a large number of buyers did delay exchanging on properties meaning the outcome for the month was significantly below forecast," it said. October has seen an improvement.
Nightclub operator Luminar was down despite an upbeat outlook for the full year as it posted a 3.8% rise in half-year like-for-like sales.
A sales warning hit XP Power, while dermatology firm York Pharma rallied as it said it has filed a new patent application for a topical formulation of Absol for treating fungal infections of the nail.
Renewed bid hopes sent Bionostics climbing. At the start of October it confirmed discussions were ongoing that could see North Atlantic Value Fund make an offer of 30p, but it has been quiet since.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Schroders Nv (SDRC) 1,352.00p +5.05%
Schroders (SDR) 1,547.00p +4.81%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 649.00p +2.85%
Man Group (EMG) 576.00p +2.77%
Hammerson (HMSO) 1,055.00p +2.53%
ICAP (IAP) 570.00p +2.33%
British Land (BLND) 1,056.00p +2.33%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 675.50p +2.12%
Kingfisher (KGF) 188.10p +1.95%
Centrica (CNA) 366.50p +1.95%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,121.00p -4.89%
Northern Rock (NRK) 183.40p -3.47%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 833.50p -3.14%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,467.00p -3.05%
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BG Group (BG.) 880.00p -2.98%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,258.00p -2.80%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,818.00p -2.68%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 189.80p -2.16%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,485.00p -1.92%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 433.00p -1.87%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Chemring Group (CHG) 2,145.00p +5.30%
Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 455.25p +4.00%
Collins Stewart (CLST) 211.50p +3.93%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,589.00p +3.18%
Homeserve (HSV) 1,815.00p +2.89%
Redrow (RDW) 380.75p +2.84%
Rightmove (RMV) 600.50p +2.65%
Talvivaara Mining (TALV) 305.00p +2.61%
easyJet (EZJ) 644.00p +2.47%
Misys (MSY) 244.75p +2.30%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
PartyGaming (PRTY) 30.25p -6.92%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,279.00p -5.28%
Bodycote International (BOY) 294.25p -4.85%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 135.50p -4.58%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 1,825.00p -4.55%
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 455.00p -4.06%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 1,737.00p -3.98%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 268.00p -3.42%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 464.00p -3.33%
Minerva (MNR) 182.00p -3.19%
