London close: Bumper gains eroded
It was a day of two halves for London's leading index, with miners giving back some of their initial gains during the afternoon session, while Wall Street soon lost its early advantage.
Stronger metal prices still helped the mining sector finish well ahead, with Kazakhmys, Xstrata and Anglo American among the best of the bunch.
Insurers also went well, with Aviva, Royal & Sun Alliance and Old Mutual to the fore. Legal & General declared total bonuses of £665m in 2007, a 12% increase on the previous year, but the shares finished flat.
Reed Elsevier was the FTSE's best performer. The Anglo-Dutch publisher said it is targeting cost savings of £245m over 2008 to 2011. It has also agreed to buy insurance data firm ChoicePoint for £2.1bn in cash and plans to sell its trade magazine business as part of a major restructuring programme.
Shares in Alliance and Leicester stayed lower after the mortgage lender warned on narrower margins and scrapped its profit target yesterday. Elsewhere in the banking sector, Lloyds TSB, due to report final figures tomorrow, and Royal Bank of Scotland, lining up full year numbers next week, were both firmer.
Utilities littered the list of losers as investors favoured growth plays. British Energy, Severn Trent, International Power, Scottish & Southern Energy and National Grid took a hit.
British Gas owner Centrica beat a retreat after full year results met expectations. The utility warned high commodity prices are unlikely to be repeated in 2008.
Scottish & Newcastle also faded after it emerged after Wednesday's close that SABMiller has ended weeks of secret talks with the brewer.
Elsewhere, Kingfisher reported a 5.1% fall in fourth quarter retail sales, but shares are on the rise after the DIY retailer said it expects underlying pre-tax profits for the full year to be in line with expectations.
BAE Systems said it performed well in 2007 as it saw all four of its business sectors deliver growth helping profits come in line with expectations, but the shares have given up an early lead.
Bookmaker William Hill has promoted Ralph Topping, previously head of UK operations, to chief executive with immediate effect.
Engineer Tomkins warned outlook on some of its markets remain challenging as it saw underlying profits fall for the year but added that it was accelerating a restructuring programme to save costs.
Investors tuned into Dori Media after the Israeli TV producer reported a 60% hike in full year pre-tax profit thanks mainly to the "substantial" increase in the sales of broadcasting and format rights of its shows.
Anglo-Russian miner Aricom has moved into profit and said it plans to start production at its Kuranakh mine in the first half of 2008.
Construction and housebuilding firm Galliford Try said it delivered a record first half performance but soured the mood by saying it was cautious over the housebuilding market.
Broadband data and telecom systems designer BATM celebrated a year in which pre-tax profits almost tripled by paying its first dividend since 1999. The company saw accelerated growth in revenues and profits in the second half and told Sharecast earlier today that it did not regard this growth spurt as "a one off".
Cancer drug developer Antisoma surged Thursday on news it has swung into profit at the half way stage and that cancer drug AS1409 has entered into clinical trials.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Reed Elsevier (REL) 627.50p +7.45%
Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Group (RSA) 133.90p +3.32%
Old Mutual (OML) 128.50p +3.05%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,257.00p +3.04%
Yell Group (YELL) 279.25p +3.04%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 374.00p +2.96%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 280.00p +2.94%
Xstrata (XTA) 4,060.00p +2.86%
Persimmon (PSN) 724.50p +2.69%
Kingfisher (KGF) 135.50p +2.65%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Centrica (CNA) 314.00p -3.90%
British Airways (BAY) 272.00p -3.55%
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British Energy Group (BGY) 531.00p -2.57%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 479.50p -2.54%
Scottish & Newcastle (SCTN) 787.00p -2.54%
International Power (IPR) 408.25p -2.39%
Man Group (EMG) 562.50p -2.17%
FirstGroup (FGP) 588.50p -2.08%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,355.00p -2.04%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,504.00p -2.02%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Aricom (ORE) 79.50p +10.42%
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 298.25p +10.16%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 136.00p +6.46%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 328.00p +5.30%
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 190.50p +5.25%
Informa (INF) 377.50p +5.01%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,140.00p +4.88%
Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 223.75p +4.68%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 876.00p +4.53%
Game Group (GMG) 223.25p +4.20%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Galliford Try (GFRD) 74.00p -7.50%
eaga (EAGA) 180.25p -5.50%
Greggs (GRG) 4,368.00p -3.75%
Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,320.00p -3.72%
Restaurant Group (RTN) 158.25p -3.65%
Beazley Group (BEZ) 171.50p -3.38%
PayPoint (PAY) 596.50p -2.85%
Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 355.75p -2.73%
Bodycote International (BOY) 193.00p -2.53%
New Star Asset Management Group (NSAM) 98.50p -2.48%
