Sector movers: Banks in a bind
With the reporting season just getting underway banks are still reeling from yesterday's results announcement by Bradford & Bingley which contained £226m of impairment charges across a range of financial instruments.
Goldman Sachs has dealt the property sector a blow today, downgrading British Land to "neutral" from "buy" and Land Securities to "sell" from "neutral". Shaftesbury, however, edges higher after saying its retail properties in London's West End are performing better than most other areas of the country.
Diageo leads the beverages sector higher. The drinks giant said it is on course to hit full year targets after a first half in which its Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Captain Morgan brands delivered double-digit sales growth.
Pre-tax profit for the six months to the end of 2007 rose to £1.37bn from £1.3bn in the second half of 2006, on sales that rose from £5.36bn to £5.67bn.
The interim dividend has been increased by 5.2% to 13.2p.
Top performing sectors so far today
Beverages 6,760.20 +2.82%
Forestry & Paper 3,931.50 +2.45%
Industrial Engineering 3,010.10 +2.08%
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Fixed Line Telecommunications 3,039.00 +2.01%
Aerospace and Defence 3,280.80 +1.83%
Bottom performing sectors so far today
Banks 7,684.20 -1.16%
General Retailers 1,622.30 -1.10%
Real Estate 3,642.80 -1.03%
Tobacco 24,149.10 -0.59%
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 6,938.70 -0.29%
