FTSE loses ground after Christmas break
Investors recovering from the Christmas break suffered a blow today as the FTSE 100 Index lost more ground.
Fears over military action in Iraq and a possible restart of North Korea’s nuclear programme cast a cloud over London shares.
With heavyweight banks, telecoms and drug stocks all lower the Footsie was down 45.3 points at 3896.8 by lunchtime.
Even oil giants BP and Shell were moving lower as profit taking negated a surge in Brent crude to above 30 US dollars a barrel.
The session was marked by low trading volumes with the City given little encouragement by traders on Wall Street.
Most dealers expect the Dow Jones Industrial Average to slip in early trading later today after a subdued close in the US last night.
In London, interest was centred around the retail sector’s performance over the festive period as the first trading updates began to emerge.
Mixed statements from two privately-owned groups, jewellery chain Goldsmiths and department store giant John Lewis, hit their plc rivals.
Among those on the slide, Dixons fell 4.5p to 142.75p, B&Q group Kingfisher eased 2.5p to 211p while Next slipped 11.5p to 723p.
Oil stocks weighed on the market following a recent strong run and Shell fell 7p to 409.25p while BP eased 7p to 422p.
Financial stocks were also out of favour as Royal Bank of Scotland slipped 33p to 1475p and Abbey National lost 12.5p to 512p.
Elsewhere in the banking sector, battered this month by concerns over rising bad debts, HSBC eased 6.5p lower to 694p.
And of the insurers on the slide, Friends Provident lost almost 2% – off 2p at 119p – while Aviva shed 13p to 443.5p.
Among other fallers, mobile phone giant Vodafone dropped 2p to 112.5p while rival mmO2 slipped 0.75p to 45.75p.
British Airways was also set to end its first week back in the top flight in drab fashion, dropping 1p to 135p.
Outside the Footsie, today’s session also marks the departure of transport infrastructure group Railtrack – now listed as RT Group.
The stock will be de-listed at close of trading but shares rose 1.5p to 253.5p - helped by news that liquidators had agreed the sale of Railtrack Developments’ property portfolio for a higher-than-expected £63 million.
The deal with property group Hammerson should safeguard the 252p to 260p a share payout promised by liquidator Deloitte & Touche.
