FTSE continues to drift
The FTSE 100 Index continued to ease today despite a reassuring update from blue-chip software firm Sage.
The group confirmed final pre-tax profits were likely to meet expectations and shares sparked 3%.
But it was not enough to lift the wider market and after an hour’s trading the FTSE 100 was 33.2 adrift points at 4097.3.
On Friday the top flight fell as investors took profits after a run of gains on both sides of the Atlantic.
However, the US markets managed to close marginally higher on Friday night.
In the City this morning, Sage – the only tech stock left in the FTSE 100 - added 4.75p at 142p on its reassuring update.
But telecoms were having a tougher session, with mobile phone firm mmO2 off a penny at 48p after a broker downgrade.
Heavyweight rival Vodafone also eased a penny to 98.25p.
Financial stocks were weaker, with HBOS down 9p at 717p and fund manager Schroders off 18.5p at 530p.
Among smaller stocks, vaccine firm PowderJect Pharmaceuticals soared 163p to 418p on confirmation it had received potential takeover approaches.
Pubs group SFI, however, slumped 43p to 34.5p on a depressing trading update which saw it cut dividend payments and warn profits would not meet forecasts.
