London close: Footsie stuck with losses
Investors sat on their hands ahead of tonight's US interest rate decision, with London spending most of the session in the red as banks and housebuilders struggled.
Northern Rock was the worst performing blue chip. The stricken mortgage lender is still expected to publish a trading statement before the year end, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) told the parliament's Treasury Committee today.
Other banks, including, Standard Chartered, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC also fell as the sector's recent revival ran out of steam, while a Goldman Sachs 'sell' note had Lloyds TSB lower.
Properties were out of favour, with Hammerson, British Land, Land Securities and Liberty International all marked down on news from New Star Asset Management Monday that the value of its property portfolio has slumped by 17.8% since the end of July.
Xstrata, the world's sixth-largest miner, jumped on a report in the FT that it is open to discussions with potential suitors, including Vale of Brazil and Anglo American. Mick Davis, chief executive of Xstrata, has asked advisers Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan Cazenove to take seriously any interested parties, the paper says.
Elsewhere in the sector, Rio Tinto eased after asking the Takeover Panel to set a deadline by which BHP Billiton must commit itself to a formal bid.
An Office of Fair Trading (OFT) inquiry into the supply of medicines found that there is "significant risk" of higher drug costs that could cost the NHS "millions of pounds" because of changes to drug distribution methods. Glaxo rose, but AstraZeneca slipped.
Housebuilder Barratt Developments got a leg-up from Credit Suisse, which lifted the stock to 'outperform' from 'neutral'. Persimmon fell back though after the Swiss broker designated it as its least favoured stock in the sector.
In economic news, the Office for National Statistics revealed a goods trade gap of £7.1bn versus September's upwardly revised £8bn, and less than the £7.4bn analysts had predicted.
Meanwhile, Cadbury Schweppes has upped its guidance for its confectionery arm after "outstanding growth in US gum, a recovery in our UK chocolate business in the second half and successful pricing initiatives."
Whitbread posted solid growth in the third quarter with sales for the 39 weeks to end November up by 11% and by 5.8% on a like-for-like basis, down slightly from 6.3% at the half-way point. Hotel group Premier Inn led the way with sales up 15% and like for like sales up by 10.8%.
Rolls-Royce is slightly below par, despite announcing a major order for its Trent XWB engines from Taiwan's China Airlines. The airline has selected Rolls-Royce for 14 firm and six option Airbus A350 XWB twinjets in a deal that could be worth as much as $800m.
Nuclear operator British Energy is marginally higher after it received consent to extend the lives of two of its power stations by five years. The Hinkley Point B reactor and the Hunterston B reactor were scheduled to close in 2011 but have been given extensions to 2016.
Away from Footsie, Carpetright went well on takeover hopes as it suspended its interim dividend ahead of a possible buy-out bid from chairman Lord Harris. Talks are said to be at an advanced stage. The carpet retailer upped underlying interim profits by 4.6% to £27.2m, though like-for-like sales at its UK and Ireland stores fell by 3.4%, hit by weak trading in October.
Video games retailer Game Group saw like-for-like sales surge 44.1% thanks to high demand for the Nintendo DS Lite and Wii console. But the shares slid as the company warned gross margin for the full year will be lower than last year due to substantially lower margins achieved on consoles compared with software, and the integration of Gamestation.
Tour operator Thomas Cook has forecast full-year underlying profits will be "significantly" ahead of expectations as it also announced a share buy-back programme.
Laird has had an outstanding year in 2007, the electronics firm said, with full-year results expected to be at the top end of market estimates. There has been continuing strong demand across its main product segments and markets, in particular for products into cellular handsets, notebook PCs and flat screen TVs.
Multiplex operator Cineworld was sharply lower on news that one of its major clients, Carlton Screen Advertising, is seeking to renegotiate the terms of its current contract.
Diagnostic group BBI has agreed a takeover by current 12% shareholder Inverness Medical Innovations. The all-share offer valuing each BBI shares at 195p. There is a cash alternative worth 185p per share.
Solar panel specialist PowerFilm slumped as it warned that revenue in 2007 would miss forecasts and be around 20-25% below expectations next year.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 530.00p +5.47%
BG Group (BG.) 1,079.00p +3.75%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 673.50p +2.75%
ITV (ITV) 85.80p +2.63%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,738.00p +2.24%
Sage Group (SGE) 222.00p +2.19%
ICAP (IAP) 669.50p +2.14%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,406.00p +1.88%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 485.75p +1.73%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 507.00p +1.55%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
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Northern Rock (NRK) 104.40p -4.66%
British Land (BLND) 933.50p -4.06%
Kingfisher (KGF) 159.40p -3.51%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 473.25p -3.42%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,906.00p -2.76%
Experian Group (EXPN) 399.50p -2.74%
International Power (IPR) 454.00p -2.58%
Yell Group (YELL) 409.50p -2.44%
Barclays (BARC) 556.00p -2.28%
Schroders (SDR) 1,358.00p -2.23%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 276.00p +6.77%
Speedy Hire (SDY) 888.00p +6.73%
Keller Group (KLR) 707.00p +6.48%
Carpetright (CPR) 1,080.00p +6.40%
Victrex (VCT) 610.00p +5.17%
HMV Group (HMV) 117.00p +4.70%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 604.50p +4.40%
Aggreko (AGK) 516.00p +4.24%
WH Smith (SMWH) 344.50p +4.00%
Helphire Group (HHR) 383.75p +3.72%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Severfield-Rowen (SFR) 458.50p -5.27%
Benfield Group (BFD) 282.00p -5.13%
Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 1,127.00p -4.57%
Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 351.25p -4.42%
Savills (SVS) 310.00p -4.10%
Capital & Regional (CAL) 493.00p -4.09%
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 277.50p -3.73%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 80.00p -3.61%
Shaftesbury (SHB) 531.50p -3.54%
Game Group (GMG) 234.00p -3.51%
