London close: Big losses as Wall Street slides
Struggling oil majors and a mostly weaker mining sector guaranteed sharp losses for London, while a volatile Wall Street dived over 100 points in quick time just before the City packed up shop.
Metals groups fell on worries that a recession will harm demand. Weak commodity prices weighed on Vedanta, Antofagasta and Lonmin, although Anglo American and Xstrata bucked the trend.
BHP Billiton said production was significantly higher in thirteen commodities, with record or equal record production achieved in seven major commodities during the half year. Alumina, copper concentrate, iron ore, manganese ore and alloy set records, while aluminum was flat at record production levels.
Oil plays suffered as US light crude for March delivery sank below $88 a barrel. BP and Shell were on the ropes, but cheaper fuel gave Carnival and British Airways a boost.
In economic news, minutes from the Bank of England's January meeting showed policymakers voted 8-1 in favour of keeping interest rates on hold at 5.5% on worries about inflation.
Tullow Oil said production for 2007 averaged 73,100 barrels per day, 13% higher than 2006 and well within its reduced guidance. Production for 2008 is expected to be between 70,000 and 74,000 barrels daily.
Life insurers were among the best risers. Reports earlier in the week had suggested a couple of Chinese life groups including Ping An were looking at taking stakes in Prudential and Aviva. An ABN Amro upgrade to 'hold' from 'sell' buoyed HSBC.
Elsewhere, bookmaker William Hill rallied on talk of an approach from Greek gambling giant OPAP, although some said the rumours were wide of the mark.
London-focused Great Portland Estates says the valuation of the group's properties as at 31 December 2007 fell to £1,699m including its share of joint venture assets, down 4.1% in the three months from 30 September. Estimated NAV per share fell 6.5% from 660p in September to 617p at December 2007.
Online retailer ASOS reports a "cracking Christmas" with profit for the year to March now forecast to come in significantly ahead of market expectations. Sales for the 42 weeks to 20 January 2008 rose by 88% year on year, with ASOS.com sales up 86% for the 7 weeks to 20 January 2008.
Engineer Renishaw said its performance continued to improve in the first six months with pre-tax profits rising 11.4%, adding that the second half is likely to show similar progress.
News that Antonov continues to make "considerable" progress in China and that its cooperation with Loncin is developing according to plan fuelled stellar gains at the gearbox designer Wednesday.
But advertising tracking specialist Thomson Intermedia lost more than half its value at one stage after swinging into an interim loss and warning that full year results will miss forecasts.
Among the minnows, Tadpole Technology said losses were cut significantly last year.
FTSE 100 - Risers
British Airways (BAY) 308.50p +4.22%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 741.50p +3.92%
Carnival Corporation (CCL) 2,044.00p +3.76%
FirstGroup (FGP) 650.50p +3.25%
British Land (BLND) 1,013.00p +3.05%
Experian Group (EXPN) 388.50p +2.91%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 718.50p +2.79%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,575.00p +2.67%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,549.00p +2.62%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,360.00p +2.44%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
British Energy Group (BGY) 476.00p -5.93%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,690.00p -5.85%
Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) 2,447.00p -5.30%
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Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,741.00p -5.23%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,708.00p -5.22%
Amec (AMEC) 642.00p -5.17%
Sage Group (SGE) 216.00p -5.16%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 583.00p -5.05%
G4S (GFS) 210.50p -4.75%
Schroders Nv (SDRC) 880.50p -4.71%
FTSE 250 - Risers
William Hill (WMH) 405.75p +9.37%
Catlin Group (CGL) 348.00p +6.42%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 140.00p +6.06%
Laird Group (LARD) 489.75p +5.49%
Northern Rock (NRK) 94.00p +4.44%
easyJet (EZJ) 459.50p +4.43%
eaga (EAGA) 130.50p +4.40%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 25.00p +4.17%
Balfour Beatty (BBY) 453.00p +4.14%
De La Rue (DLAR) 886.00p +3.99%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Signet Group (SIG) 64.25p -11.07%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 89.00p -10.55%
Southern Cross Healthcare Group (SCHE) 371.00p -9.68%
Imperial Energy Corporation (IEC) 1,324.00p -9.62%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 952.50p -9.11%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 99.00p -8.33%
New Star Asset Management Group (NSAM) 97.00p -8.27%
Cattles (CTT) 254.50p -8.12%
Forth Ports (FPT) 1,920.00p -7.91%
Talvivaara Mining (TALV) 279.75p -6.75%
