Footsie continues to plummet
The FTSE 100 Index was today heading for its lowest close in four months as investors continued to fret about the possibility of an Iraqi conflict.
After a bright start, the Footsie was down 27.6 points at 3751 by lunchtime after surrendering an initial 36 point rise achieved in the first hour.
Gains by life insurers and banks petered out and there was little else to encourage money into the market.
Martin Dobson, head trader at NatWest Securities, said fears about the Iraqi situation were holding back investors.
He added: “There’s just no trading going on. There’s no real impetus to the market at the moment.”
The Footsie fell to its lowest level since October 10 last night and analysts fear the next low of 3721.8 – seen on September 30 – could be breached.
Even signs of a stronger start on Wall Street later this afternoon failed to sustain the London market.
Life insurers were among those back in familiar territory after initially gaining on the back of solid new business figures for 2002 from Aviva.
The former CGNU group had surged 4% but fell back and was down 2%, or 9.5p at 405.5p by lunchtime.
Elsewhere, Friends Provident was down 1.75p at 100.25p, Prudential was 8p lower at 377p and Legal & General eased 2p to 81.75p.
Banks were also pulling down the wider market and Barclays eased 5.75p to 342.75p, HBOS slipped 26.5p to 586p and Lloyds TSB fell 7.75p to 409p.
Telecoms were doing their best to prop up the Footsie and mobile phone giant Vodafone benefited from a stockbroker upgrade to rise 1.25p to 118.75p while BT Group was 3.5p higher at 194.5p and former subsidiary mmO2 rose 0.25p to 48p.
And supermarket giant Safeway continued to benefit from takeover interest as the retailer rose another 6p to 321.75p.
But there was a muted reaction to strong pre-Christmas trading figures from high street health and beauty chain Boots.
Fears over margins offset the strongest third-quarter sales for over 10 years and the shares rose just 3.5p to 548p.
Outside the Footsie, telecoms group Cable & Wireless was up 5% after announcing the departure of boss Graham Wallace.
The group said the chief executive would step down once a replacement was found and its shares rose 3p to 64.75p.
However, chocolate maker and retailer Thorntons slumped almost 12% after sales dipped over Christmas and warning that interim profits would be at the lower end of market expectations. Shares were off 15.5p at 116.5p.
