London close: Footsie sharply lower
London closed sharply lower on renewed worries over economic prospects in the US and weaker metal prices.
US stocks also slumped after non-farm payrolls figure for February showed the biggest drop for five years, according to the US Labor Department.
Some 63,000 jobs were shed, compared with forecasts ahead of the figures of a 25,000 increase in employment. It is largest decline since March 2003 and follows a loss of 22,000 jobs in January.
Back in blighty, miners succumbed to profit taking as metal prices pulled back from record highs. Antofagasta, Anglo American, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were all deep in the red.
Pub group JD Wetherspoon unsettled the pub sector with a warning it faces an even tougher second half following a fall in interim profits of 13% to £28.5m. It said higher costs including labour and depreciation knocked operating profit by 4% to £44.4m.
"We expect second half sales trends to be broadly similar to those of the second quarter, to experience some cost pressures, and therefore have a slightly more cautious outlook for the second half of this financial year," said chairman Tim Martin.
Investors at rival pub groups Enterprise Inns and Mitchells & Butlers lost their bottle, sending both shares sharply lower.
Last night's drop on Wall Street on further credit crunch fears unsettled finance issues over here, with inter-dealer broker ICAP, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland all in the red.
Insurers also caught a cold from the States on US mortgage related worries, which damaged confidence in Old Mutual, Friends Provident and Royal & Sun Alliance.
In M&A news, the European Commission has cleared Carlsberg's proposed acquisition of brewer Scottish & Newcastle.
Broker comment slammed directories group Yell, with Swiss outfit UBS keeping its 'sell' rating on the shares while slashing the price target to 150p from 265p.
Elsewhere, drinks giant Diageo announced new joint ventures in South Africa with Heineken International and Namibia Breweries to combine their beer, cider and RTD businesses in country. The new venture will be called DHN Drinks.
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey did well following yesterday's slide into losses as brokers reassess the statement from the company. Bovis Homes also closed in the blue.
Candover was best of the mid-caps on news the buy-out specialist saw full-year net assets per share rise 37.4% to 2,065p. It is also targeting €5bn for its Candover 2008 fund.
Strong load factors at both easyJet and GB Airways, acquired in January, pushed total passenger numbers up 22.4% to 3.24m in February, the budget airline said Friday. On its own, easyJet flew 3.04m passengers, an increase of almost 15%.
Travel operator Thomas Cook Group said it is buying back up to 74.9% of the Indian business it sold to the Dubai Financial group two years ago. It is also snapping up Thomas Cook brands in Egypt and licences in the Middle East. The total cost will be between €208m and €249m in cash.
Landscape products group Marshalls said 2007 began and started positively with the positive momentum continuing into the new year. Pre-tax profit for 2007 grew to £42.1m from £41.7m on revenue up 6.6% to £402.9m.
Financial services provider Prestbury Holdings said that talks with the management over a possible offer for the company have ended.
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Speciality pharmaceutical company Prostrakan closed higher on news it has received marketing authorisation in Sweden for cancer pain treatment Rapinyl.
FTSE 100 - Risers
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,357.00p +4.22%
British Airways (BAY) 253.50p +3.47%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 172.70p +2.92%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 424.00p +2.48%
HBOS (HBOS) 582.50p +2.46%
Reed Elsevier (REL) 634.00p +2.18%
BAE Systems (BA.) 490.50p +1.71%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Schroders NV (SDRC) 810.00p -5.70%
Schroders (SDR) 903.50p -5.64%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,590.00p -5.36%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 786.50p -5.24%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,256.00p -4.69%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,300.00p -4.10%
Next (NXT) 1,224.00p -4.08%
