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London close: Late slump near close
Wed, 08 Feb, 2012
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London close: Late slump near close
Thu, 1 Jul 2010, 16:08:00
Leading UK shares lurched downwards near the close as US markets opened poorly as concern grows over the health of Asia and the prospect of a double-dip recession. <b>BP</b> and satellite group <b>Inmarsat</b> were the only blue chips to make progress. BP shares have been on a roll ever since JPMorgan Cazenove indulged in what it called "fantasy M&A" and said that the UK oil giant would make a good addition to the Exxon Mobil empire. A more likely cause of today's rally is a rumour that BP has capped the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico. This has not been confirmed by the firm or US authorities. Sector peer <b>Royal Dutch Shell </b> goes the other way, falling in line with oil prices. <b>Barclays</b> is a major faller. It has signed a joint venture agreement with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Nikko Cordial Securities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMBC, to provide wealth management services to high net worth individuals in Japan. But it is possible exposure to Europe's debts that has spooked markets today. Miners were weak led by <b>Xstrata, Randgold and ENRC</b>. Swiss engineer ABB will not match an offer by Emerson for electrical plugs and peripherals maker<b> Chloride</b>. Emerson trumped ABB's agreed offer with a bid worth 375p in cash or £1bn in total. ABB was offering 325p. In similar vein, CH2M Hill said it will no longer proceed with its acquisition of <b>Scott Wilson</b> after rival bidder URS Corporation increased its offer for the design and engineering consultancy firm. Another piece of English heritage has gone west as <b>Tate & Lyle</b> sold the largest part of its sugars division to American Sugar Refining of the US for £211m - a deal that will see it lose its well known brand Lyle's Golden Syrup. <b>Cairn Energy</b> has started its summer drill programme off the coast of West Greenland with the Alpha prospect (Alpha-1) in the Sigguk Block, about 175km offshore Disko Island. Telecoms giant <b>BT</b> plans to undercut <b>Sky's Sports</b> channels. BT Vision customers can add both Sky Sports 1 & 2 to the service for £16.99 a month, or either one for £11.99 a month, on a month by month basis. BT says the £11.99 bundle works out £205 cheaper than Sky's current equivalent deal and £281 cheaper than Virgin Media over a year. Sky has responded by upping its retail prices, which could make BT's service run at a loss as wholesale prices will go up as well. Guinness brewer and spirits distiller <b>Diageo</b> has reached agreement with its pension fund trustees on a 10-year funding arrangement for the UK pension scheme. The arrangement includes the novel idea whereby a pension funding partnership will be formed (the PFP), which will hold maturing whisky spirit as assets, generating an income to the UK Scheme which is expected to total £25m each year over the term of the PFP. Brewer <b>Greene King</b> saw profits rise for the year and said current year's trading is ahead of expectations. Pre-tax profit rose to £101.9m from £54.3m on revenue that increased 3.1% to £984.1m, helped in particular by the 3.5% growth in its retail business. Department store <b>Debenhams'</b> like-for-like sales decreased by 0.4% over the 42 weeks and added that it remains cautious about consumer confidence. The group said like-for-like sales were impacted by the strategy of improving gross margins by increasing the penetration of own bought trading space and by stronger comparatives in the third quarter of 2009. Energy services group <b>John Wood Group</b> said fall-out from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is not expected to materially affect the company's performance this year. About 4% of annual revenue is related to new deep water developments in the Gulf. Not so <b>Wellstream</b>, which designs and manufactures flexible risers and flowlines for the oil and gas industry. It warned that the recovery predicted for second half looks to be slower than expected and may result in some profit being delayed into 2011. Production at <b>Aquarius Platinum</b>'s Blue Ridge platinum mine in South Africa will be cut as a result of a safety review carried out following the deaths of two workers within a month. Five-a-side football pitch operator <b>Goals Soccer</b> sees overall sales for the six months ended 30 June slightly ahead of 2009, but shares fell after it said full-year figures might come in towards the lower end of current market expectations. <b>FTSE 100 - Risers</b> BP (BP.) 327.95p +2.84% Inmarsat (ISAT) 715.50p +0.14% <b>FTSE 100 - Fallers</b> Barclays (BARC) 254.85p -5.80% Randgold Resources (RRS) 6,070.00p -5.53% Investec (INVP) 429.20p -5.38% Schroders NV (SDRC) 950.50p -5.04% <b>FTSE 250 - Risers</b> Punch Taverns (PUB) 62.90p +8.45% Ashtead Group (AHT) 93.50p +4.06% Debenhams (DEB) 55.10p +3.96% Resolution (RSL) 65.75p +3.87% <b>FTSE 250 - Fallers</b> Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 440.00p -12.52% St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 170.40p -8.83% Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 300.00p -8.62% Bodycote (BOY) 185.00p -7.04%
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