Subdued morning for London market
Blue-chip shares nudged ahead today in an otherwise subdued session across the London market.
A mixed showing from heavyweight stocks kept the FTSE 100 Index in a narrow trading range, close to its opening mark.
Also subduing investor activity was a lack of blue-chip announcements and expectations among traders of a weak start on Wall Street later today.
The Footsie gained nearly 200 points last week but today investors were holding back and by lunchtime, the top flight had crept forward just 3.5 points to 4134.0.
Weighing on the market were oil giants BP and Shell, off 5.5p at 453p and 1.75p at 425.5p respectively, as were some banks.
Standard Chartered, which released further details of its planned listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange today, dipped 15.5p to 738.5p while HBOS shed 8.5p at 717.5p.
But Royal Bank of Scotland gained 22p at 1562p, mortgage bank Abbey National put on 10.5p at 634p and fund manager Schroders NV added 18p at 500p.
Rival Man was also ahead, up 25p at 971p, after buying Old Mutual’s derivatives business for £100 million. The deal is expected to boost earnings by 2004.
Software firm Sage – the only tech stock left in the FTSE 100 – was another climber, ahead 3%.
The 4.5p improvement to 141.75p came after Sage reassured investors it would meet full-year profits targets.
But mobile phone firm mmO2 dropped 0.75p on a broker downgrade while rival Vodafone lost 2.5p at 96.75p.
Among smaller stocks, vaccine firm PowderJect Pharmaceuticals saw its value soar 66% on news it had received takeover approaches.
Hopes of a deal, with some sources claiming US rival Chiron was a suitor, meant the shares added 168.5p at 423.5p.
Another riser was MyTravel although the 8% gain – 1.25p to 19.25p – reversed only a mere fraction of its recent heavy losses.
Speculation grew over the weekend that the crisis-hit travel group, formerly Airtours, was in talks with venture capital firms over a possible £750 million bid.
UK Coal also saw shares jump, up 3.5p to 51.5p.
It said today it had received half an outstanding payment owed to it by AES Drax, the power firm which owns the Yorkshire power station.
But pubs group SFI slumped 52.5p to 25p – a near 68% dive – on a depressing trading update which saw it cut dividends and warn profits would not meet forecasts.
