Gas rise fail to halt FTSE slide
Gas shares were pushed upwards today following British Gas's announcement it planned to ramp up its bills.
Although the news is bad for customers, who will on average have an extra £14 added onto their average yearly bill, it was good for investors in British Gas owner Centrica.
The wider market, however, was in a subdued mood, weighed down by falls in telecoms shares following negative sentiment from the US. By the close of trading, the FTSE-100 Index was off a miserable 41.8 points at 6164.3.
Shares in Centrica were up 5%, or 12p to 247p, while gas distribution group Lattice, jumped 4% - up 5.75p to 137.25p. Innogy however, whose retail arm npower also said it would ramp up prices, slipped 1.50p to 201.50p.
Among the telecom fallers was Telewest Communications, down 11.75p at 135.50p, Colt Telecom off 55p at £14.85 and Cable & Wireless down 8.50p at 804.50p. BT was also a sharp faller, off 25p at 595p, and continuing its dive from Thursday when it announced disappointing third quarter figures.
Vodafone was also down, off 9.25p at 216.75p, Telewest Communications was down 11.25p at 136p and Cable & Wireless was off 17p at 796p.
Other tech fallers included software firm Autonomy, off nearly 10%, or 188p at £17.45, Misys off 28p at 695p, Sage, 14p lower at 326p and Baltimore Technologies dropped 14.75p to 325.25p.
Electronics group Marconi also slipped, off 14.50p to 600.50p, chip designer Arm was off 23.50p at 443.50p and handheld computer group Psion fell 16.25p to 193.75p.
Telecoms equipment group Spirent was also lighter, off 14p at 500p, as was computer services group Logica, down 50p at £15.60.
However, as investors sold tech stocks, old economy shares gained. Petroleum companies were making headway, following Shell's record figures yesterday and ahead of results next week from BP Amoco.
