London close: Rate decision saps Footsie strength
Footsie closed in downbeat mood with banks and housebuilders depressed by the Bank of England decision not to cut interest rates.
Housebuilders Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments are well in the red, while rival Persimmon is way off its morning high. Property groups Land Securities and British Land have also slipped back.
There were also losses for HBOS, Alliance & Leicester, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays following the UK central bank�s rate pause. Borrowing costs stay at 5.5% after last month�s quarter point cut.
J Sainsbury is best of the blue chips after the supermarket chain released a bullish update. It posted like-for-like sales growth of 3.7%, excluding fuel, for the third quarter, which it said was a good result for the Christmas quarter given the level of competition in the period. Including fuel, like-for-like sales rose 5.1%. Wm Morrison is up in sympathy.
Scottish & Newcastle is among the top risers after rejecting a new 780p offer from Carlsberg and Heineken, but it suggested it would be willing to discuss an offer of 800p per share.
Royal Dutch Shell, BG and BP fell on weaker oil prices and recent talk that BP is about to cut forecasts.
Hedge fund manager Man Group has fallen despite boosting funds under management in the fourth quarter of 2007. It said funds under management at the end of 2007 were estimated to stand at $71.7bn, compared with $68.6bn at the end of September, but net sales were just $0.6bn.
Life insurer Legal & General's the fourth quarter proved to be the strongest of the year as it delivered a record year for new business in UK life and pensions. The insurer said UK Life and Pensions sales were 8% higher in 2007 to �1,160m, despite a fall-off in the sale of protection products.
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Elsewhere, SIG is the biggest FTSE 250 riser after the insulation and roofing supplier said chief executive David Williams will step down and announced record sales and profits in 2007.
Recruitment group Hays saw net fees grow by 23% on a like-for-like basis in the quarter ended 31 December and said is confident in its outlook for the year.
Bookie William Hill said it expects full year pre-tax profit to be around �285m, despite continuing problems with its internet business.
Food producer Premier Foods dived even though it still expects to hit profit targets this year despite a decline in retailer branded sales in the second half of the year. Premier said second half pro-form sales were up 3%, while pro-forma sales over the full year should be 1.4% higher than 2006�s levels.
Precision instrumentation and controls company Spectris's trading in the second half of 2007 was robust and predicts organic sales growth for the year, at constant exchange rates, of approximately 6%.
Construction firm Costain said full year results will be in line with expectations and confirmed it will resume dividend payments.
Fashion based sportswear retailer John David rocketed ahead as it said full year earnings should be ahead of market expectations, despite a slight slow-down in like for like sales growth over the Christmas period.
Fund and wealth manager Rathbone Brothers said year-end results, due out in March, are expected to be in line with market expectations.
