London close: Miners, oil stocks sink Footsie
Trading ended quietly ahead of the Easter weekend with hefty falls in the gold price and crude leading to poor showings from the miners and oil sector.
Gold fell to under $920 per ounce and other metals also fell, leading to widespread selling of mining companies. Anglo American, Vedanta, Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton all dropped.
Oil, meanwhile, dipped below $100 per barrel with profit taking clipping both Tullow and Cairn Energy.
BP was also hit by reports police investigators searched the Moscow offices of TNK-BP, BP's 50%-owned Russian joint venture, on Wednesday, as part of a criminal probe. Industry experts see it as a possible increase of state pressure on the company.
But Rentokil was in favour as investors hope that the resignation of chairman Brian McGowan and chief executive Doug Flynn will pave the way for a turnaround at the ailing pest control firm. It has drafted in ex-ICI boss John McAdam and the chemical giant's finance chief Alan Brown to lead a recovery at the group, which issued another profits warning last month.
Marks & Spencer's shot up after the retailer signalled its intention to expands into eastern Europe after it took a 51% stake in COMS for up to €18.8m.
HBOS and Allaince & Leicester also recovered from yesterday's dive on "false rumours" regarding emergency funding requirements, while weaker oil prices helped fuel hungry British Airways fly higher.
Yellow pages group Yell is off colour after Italian directories group Seat Pagine Gialle scrapped its dividend yesterday in order to focus on reducing debt.
Elsewhere, Legal & General is to make a recommended cash offer for Suffolk Life, the Ipswich-based self-invested pension plan specialist. The life insurer is offering 1575p per Suffolk share, valuing the entire issued capital of the company at £62m.
Retailers had a burst near the close with Debenhams and DSG International both rising sharply. Retail sales for February has come in much higher than expected suggesting perhaps that things are not as bleak on the high street as has been painted.
Fund manager New Star Asset Management leads the mid-caps after reporting full year results in line with expectations, although it said 2008 will be a year of consolidation following its "most difficult" period since the company started. Net revenue for 2007 rose 29% to £173.3m, underlying operating earnings were up 36% to £98.1m, while funds under management rose 9% to £23.1bn.
G4S has emerged as the winner in the bidding contest for security services provider ArmorGroup. G4S is making a recommended cash offer worth around £43.6m.
Trading at nightclub operator Luminar has continued to be challenging since its last update on 18 January, but has been in line with previous guidance, said the group. It expects results for the year ended 28 February 2008 to be within the range of market forecasts.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Rentokil Initial (RTO) 85.50p +17.45%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 163.80p +7.76%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 538.00p +7.28%
HBOS (HBOS) 473.75p +6.16%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 641.00p +4.06%
Next (NXT) 1,149.00p +3.70%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
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Anglo American (AAL) 2,673.00p -8.11%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 622.00p -6.68%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,535.00p -6.56%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,483.00p -6.27%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 617.50p -6.23%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,435.00p -6.21%
FTSE 250 - Risers
Debenhams (DEB) 68.00p +15.25%
DSG International (DSGI) 58.25p +9.91%
New Star Asset Management Group (NSAM) 91.25p +7.35%
easyJet (EZJ) 359.50p +5.97%
Expro International Group (EXR) 1,200.00p +5.91%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 287.75p +5.60%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,074.00p -10.87%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 118.75p -7.95%
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,241.00p -7.59%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 2,173.00p -7.33%
Merrill Lynch World Mining Trust (MLW) 607.50p -7.25%
Aricom (ORE) 73.00p -7.01%.
