FTSE retreats further from high
The London market witnessed a further bout of heavy selling today as the FTSE 100 Index continued to lose sight of the 5000 barrier.
Weak economic data and the latest earthquake to hit Asia left the Hang Seng and the Nikkei down overnight while the Dow Jones Industrial Average was expected to open on the back foot later today.
The FTSE 100 Index was 28.2 points lower at 4894.3 by mid-morning as the London market retreated further from February’s high for the year of 5077.
A range of blue-chip stocks were hit by the weakness while a slight dip in the cost of oil caused BP to fall 3.5p to 547.5p and Shell to ease 3p to 475.5p.
One bright spot for the top flight came from Rentokil Initial after shares in the office services provider rose 6.5p to 165.5p, a gain sparked by talk of further consolidation following a takeover bid for one of its rivals in Denmark.
Outside the top flight, the London Stock Exchange slumped 5% after the competition watchdog announced a probe into rival takeover approaches for the group.
The prospect of a lengthy inquiry into whether the proposed deals reduced competition in the financial services market took some of the steam out of the LSE share price, which fell 25.5p to 448.5p.
On a quite session for corporate news, bookshop chain Ottakar’s took centre stage after announcing a rise in full-year profits, up by £1m (€1.4m) to £7.1m (€10.3m).
Shares initially fell but later stood half a penny higher at 263p as investors digested an unsurprising warning that trading continued to be challenging after a 1.6% dip in like-for-like sales in the first seven weeks of the new year.
Elsewhere, Jarvis shares were back under pressure – off 3p at 14p – after the debt-laden support services group said it had been forced to ask lenders for an additional £17m (€24.6m) to meet working capital requirements.
