London close: BSkyB leads slide after US jobs disappointment

8th Jul 2011 16:49

Stocks finished firmly in the red after disappointing jobs data from the US, with satellite broadcaster BSkyB leading the slide as the fallout from the News of the World phone hacking scandal continues.Newspaper group News Corporation, which hopes to take over the 60% of BSkyB it doesn't already own, last night dramatically announced that it would be closing down the News of the World after widespread phone-hacking allegations. Meanwhile, the former editor of the newspaper, Andy Coulson, has been arrested. The drama makes it less likely that News Corp will be allowed to swallow up all of BSkyB.Panmure Gordon said the probability of the News International takeover of BSkyB going ahead has fallen below 50% from about 90%. Meanwhile, Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Mirror and Sunday Mirror (and the Sunday Mail in Scotland) and a likely beneficiary of NOTW's demise, saw its shares jump more than 10%. "The opportunity for TNI (Trinity Mirror) here is much improved market share of circulation and advertising," said broker Panmure Gordon. "In terms of demographic, the Mirror titles are arguably closest to the NoW, and there is conceivably 2.6m circulation up for grabs." Miners, dependent on a strong global economy to sustain metals demand, suffered after the poor US jobs data. Copper producers Vedanta and Antofagasta were nursing particularly large losses.Both Hammerson and British Land have announced deals. Property company British Land is to buy a portfolio of 17 freehold and leasehold racket clubs from French bank Societe Generale for £179m. The clubs will be let on new 25-year leases to Virgin Active pending Virgin's acquisition of the Esporta business. Shares fell into the red.Meanwhile, real estate investment trust Hammerson edged higher after acquiring a 999-year leasehold interest in 99 Bishopsgate, in the heart of London's financial district, for £100m, including costs. House builder Bovis was also higher on the FTSE 250 after completing marginally fewer sales in the first half of this year than last, although the average sales price increased by around 3%. Completions eased to 801 from 803 in the first half of last year, but net private reservations in the first half of the year rose 16% to 802 from 691 the year before. UK price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com saw shares riser after saying that it expects revenues to be around 23% ahead of last year when it reports its first half results next month. "Trading in the second quarter has been strong and consistent with the trends seen in the first quarter," the statement said. Shares in storage barn operator Big Yellow rose by 1% after it saw 'occupancy growth' up from 143,000 square feet in the second quarter of 2010 to 162,000 square feet between April and June this year.FTSE 100 - RisersAssociated British Foods (ABF) 1,092.00p +1.68%Man Group (EMG) 259.60p +1.53%Tesco (TSCO) 411.50p +1.07%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,847.00p +0.80%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,980.00p +0.76%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,375.50p +0.66%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,167.00p +0.65%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 378.90p +0.61%Next (NXT) 2,410.00p +0.50%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 137.60p +0.36%FTSE 100 - FallersBritish Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 750.00p -7.64%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,424.00p -4.49%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,973.00p -4.27%ARM Holdings (ARM) 611.00p -4.08%Essar Energy (ESSR) 397.90p -3.96%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,352.00p -3.77%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 46.56p -3.54%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 788.50p -3.25%Barclays (BARC) 243.25p -3.18%International Power (IPR) 301.30p -2.84%FTSE 250 - RisersSports Direct International (SPD) 261.20p +4.48%Berendsen (BRSN) 568.00p +3.84%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 58.50p +3.72%Premier Farnell (PFL) 201.80p +3.49%Booker Group (BOK) 75.95p +3.26%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 464.00p +3.00%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 193.90p +2.27%Telecom Plus (TEP) 688.00p +2.23%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,109.00p +2.08%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 145.90p +1.67%FTSE 250 - FallersSupergroup (SGP) 887.00p -8.51%Betfair Group (BET) 682.00p -5.47%Spirent Communications (SPT) 143.30p -4.97%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 15.29p -4.44%Travis Perkins (TPK) 964.50p -4.32%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 63.20p -4.17%Carpetright (CPR) 629.00p -3.97%Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 325.60p -3.67%Punch Taverns (PUB) 70.70p -3.61%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 136.80p -3.53%