FTSE remains weaker in midday trade
MIDDAY REPORT: Headline shares remained weaker in midday trade, with little in the way of encouraging blue chip news to provide direction. Losses were broad-based, with Diageo leading the rare winners in the wake of its job cuts announcement.
At high noon, the FTSE100 was down 38.72 points at 4,301.99 with the FTSE250 off 50.77 points at 7,455.94 and the FTSE Smallcaps 8.14 points lower at 2,243.81.
NEW YORK
US stock futures were lower ahead of the holiday weekend with investors eagerly awaiting payrolls data.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 28 points, S&P500 futures edged down 3.9 points to 915.3 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 5.5 points to 1,473.2.
LONDON MARKETS
PMI construction data showed the rate of manufacturing decline slowing, although continuing to contract.
An unexpected move by Sweden to cut its key interest rate to a record low of 0.25%, created activity in the currency markets this morning, coming as the ECB was reported to be expecting interest rates in Euroland to remain stable through the year.
Mining shares eased lower this morning. Lonmin was the worst of the bunch, down 39p at 1,179p, while Rio Tinto slumped 47.5p at 2,110.5p following news of a 96.97% take-up of its record rights issue in London.
Anglo American dropped 48p at 1,784.5p, BHP billiton lost 30p at 1,395p and Xstrata fell 8.5p at 684.7p.
Oil majors eased as the price of crude tumbled to $67.85 a barrel on Nymex, with BP off 2.05p at 487.95p, BG Group 2p lower at 1,059p and Shell down 27p at 1,529p.
Among the banks, Standard Chartered made the most headway, up 12p at 1,192p. Barclays and HSBC also made modest gains, ahead 2.05p at 292.3p and 1.45p at 510.95p. Royal Bank of Scotland was the worst sector performer as the backlash over CEO Hester's remuneration package rumbled on, the shares down 0.24p at 39.16p, and Lloyds eased 0.07p at 68.18p.
Insurers fared little better, with Friends Provident, up 0.83p at 68.8p, the only one making real progress. Prudential slid 9.75p to 403.75p and Aviva was the biggest blue chip faller of the session, off 12.25p at 336.5p.
Supermarket operator Sainsbury was a rare gainer, up 1.25p at 316.5p, and morrisons added 0.75p at 241.75p, but Tesco fell 4.5p at 355.6p ahead of its AGM tomorrow, which threatens to be a stormy affair.
British Airways remained weak as its high profile pay dispute continued to make headlines, down a further 1.6p at 122.4p, giving no-frills peer easyJet a lift on hopes it might gain from the fallout, 0.25p better at 268p.
The hangover from yesterday's news it was losing its East Coast rail franchise pushed National Express lower still, off a further 9.75p at 274.25p, with doubts being raised about whether it will manage to retain its remaining franchises.
The troubles spilled over to other operators, with FirstGroup forced 2.75p lower at 351.25p and Go-Ahead down 7p at 1,199p.
Brewer and pub operator Greene King was a bright spark in the gloom, up 13.5p at 423.5p, after reporting that pretax profit slipped 15% to £118.5m in the year ended 3rd May, ahead of target. The company said its Belhaven brewery achieved a milestone profit of over £30m, with growth of 11.9% in the year.
Photo-Me International was another bucking the dismal trend of the day, ahead 0.75p at 17.25p, after revealing it had swung into pre-tax profit on continuing operations of £1.6m in the year to April.
Game Group said today that for the first 21 weeks to 27th June 2009, like for like group sales were down by 15.4%. The shares sagged 15.5p to 148.5p.
At high noon, the FTSE100 was down 38.72 points at 4,301.99 with the FTSE250 off 50.77 points at 7,455.94 and the FTSE Smallcaps 8.14 points lower at 2,243.81.
NEW YORK
US stock futures were lower ahead of the holiday weekend with investors eagerly awaiting payrolls data.
Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dropped 28 points, S&P500 futures edged down 3.9 points to 915.3 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 5.5 points to 1,473.2.
LONDON MARKETS
PMI construction data showed the rate of manufacturing decline slowing, although continuing to contract.
An unexpected move by Sweden to cut its key interest rate to a record low of 0.25%, created activity in the currency markets this morning, coming as the ECB was reported to be expecting interest rates in Euroland to remain stable through the year.
Mining shares eased lower this morning. Lonmin was the worst of the bunch, down 39p at 1,179p, while Rio Tinto slumped 47.5p at 2,110.5p following news of a 96.97% take-up of its record rights issue in London.
Anglo American dropped 48p at 1,784.5p, BHP billiton lost 30p at 1,395p and Xstrata fell 8.5p at 684.7p.
Oil majors eased as the price of crude tumbled to $67.85 a barrel on Nymex, with BP off 2.05p at 487.95p, BG Group 2p lower at 1,059p and Shell down 27p at 1,529p.
Among the banks, Standard Chartered made the most headway, up 12p at 1,192p. Barclays and HSBC also made modest gains, ahead 2.05p at 292.3p and 1.45p at 510.95p. Royal Bank of Scotland was the worst sector performer as the backlash over CEO Hester's remuneration package rumbled on, the shares down 0.24p at 39.16p, and Lloyds eased 0.07p at 68.18p.
Insurers fared little better, with Friends Provident, up 0.83p at 68.8p, the only one making real progress. Prudential slid 9.75p to 403.75p and Aviva was the biggest blue chip faller of the session, off 12.25p at 336.5p.
Supermarket operator Sainsbury was a rare gainer, up 1.25p at 316.5p, and morrisons added 0.75p at 241.75p, but Tesco fell 4.5p at 355.6p ahead of its AGM tomorrow, which threatens to be a stormy affair.
British Airways remained weak as its high profile pay dispute continued to make headlines, down a further 1.6p at 122.4p, giving no-frills peer easyJet a lift on hopes it might gain from the fallout, 0.25p better at 268p.
The hangover from yesterday's news it was losing its East Coast rail franchise pushed National Express lower still, off a further 9.75p at 274.25p, with doubts being raised about whether it will manage to retain its remaining franchises.
The troubles spilled over to other operators, with FirstGroup forced 2.75p lower at 351.25p and Go-Ahead down 7p at 1,199p.
Brewer and pub operator Greene King was a bright spark in the gloom, up 13.5p at 423.5p, after reporting that pretax profit slipped 15% to £118.5m in the year ended 3rd May, ahead of target. The company said its Belhaven brewery achieved a milestone profit of over £30m, with growth of 11.9% in the year.
Photo-Me International was another bucking the dismal trend of the day, ahead 0.75p at 17.25p, after revealing it had swung into pre-tax profit on continuing operations of £1.6m in the year to April.
Game Group said today that for the first 21 weeks to 27th June 2009, like for like group sales were down by 15.4%. The shares sagged 15.5p to 148.5p.
Story provided by Business Financial Newswire
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