Interest rates hit FTSE
The increasing prospect of higher interest rates cast a shadow over property and retail stocks on the London market today.
Amid fears of a property and consumer spending slowdown, the FTSE 100 Index shed 26.7 points to 6622.6 by mid-morning.
Among the real estate fallers, Land Securities dipped 51p to 1741p, British Land eased 35p to 1348p and Segro – formerly Slough Estates – fell 21.5p to 650.5p. Persimmon also felt the pain in the housebuilding sector, with shares down 22p at 1200p.
Currys owner DSG International was the biggest faller of the session, dipping 6p to 163.5p after results caused disappointment in the City yesterday. Next eased 38p to 2062p and supermarket Morrisons fell 6p to 286.75p.
The weakness for the Footsie came despite a steady performance by energy companies after the price of oil remained close to 70 US dollars a barrel. Royal Dutch Shell rose 4p to 2040p, while BP was unchanged at 581.5p.
On a quiet day for corporate news, Bradford & Bingley shares were down 4.75p at 416.25p, as it offset positive news about volume growth with a warning that margins had been under slight pressure.
In the second tier, shares in engineer Weir jumped more than 10% after it agreed a £328m deal to buy a Texas-based oil equipment specialist.
Analysts described the acquisition as an “excellent” deal for Weir, causing its shares to increase 67p to 701p.
Transport group Go-Ahead rose 50p to 2444p after its rail joint venture Govia secured the new West Midlands rail franchise.
Meanwhile, a newspaper report stating that Gcap Media and Emap had discussed a merger of radio assets did little for the pair’s share prices. Emap was 10.5p lower at 851.5p, while Gcap dipped 1.5p to 188.75p.
City analysts noted that any such deal might struggle to get past regulators.
