London close: Footsie drops after Merkozy meeting

9th Jan 2012 16:59

The FTSE 100 finished close to its lowest levels of the day with resource, pharmaceuticals and banking stocks providing a drag in the afternoon session.German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy gave a press conference earlier today in which they outlined details of their proposed response to the interminable financial crisis in the Eurozone, but the general consensus was that the pair did not cover any ground that was particularly new. However, Merkel has now said that she is in favour of "thinking" about a financial transactions tax in the Eurozone following encouragement from Sarkozy. "Germany and France both equally view the financial transaction tax as a correct response," she said.In several interviews over the weekend, British Prime Minister David Cameron indicated that the tax simply "makes no sense" unless it was implemented throughout the world and insisted that he would move to block the measure. Nevertheless, Sarkozy has vowed to implement the tax in France even if other EU partners, including Germany, decide not to move forward with the measure. ESSAR PROVIDES A DRAG ON FTSE 100Indian energy firm Essar Energy was the worst performer of the day, dropping over 5%, despite commissioning the Amine Regeneration Unit (ARU), a step in the planned expansion of the Vadinar Refinery's capacity from 14m tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 18 mtpa. The phase 1 project is nearing completion and increased throughput of 18 mtpa will commence by March 2012. Drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline fell despite announcing its once-a-day respiratory drug Relovair is soon to be submitted for regulatory approval. Glaxo admits a 24 week "superiority study" of Relovair against another drug, Seretide, in asthma patients "did not meet the predefined threshold for superiority". Glaxo describes this study as "non-pivotal". Lloyds Banking Group was out of favour after chief António Horta-Osório eased back into the driving seat at the part-owned British lender after a two-month rest period taken so he could recover from exhaustion. Sector peers Barclays and RBS were also lower.Antofagasta fell nearly 3% after suffering a downgrade by Deutsche Bank from buy to hold.JD, PERSIMMON JUMP ON FTSE 250Sports fashion wear retailer JD Sports Fashion jumped after confirming press speculation that it is in talks to buy assets of struggling camping equipment retailer Blacks Leisure and that talks are at an advanced stage. Shares in Blacks Leisure were suspended on 6 January as the company enters an administration process. Housebuilder Persimmon rose after saying it expects a 50% increase in underlying pre-tax profit after it introduced a raft of measures to combat the sluggish UK housing market. An improvement in underlying operating profit and a reduction in net finance costs will result in full year underlying pre-tax profit being towards the top end of analysts' expectations, the group said. BCFTSE 100 - RisersNational Grid (NG.) 624.00p +2.38%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,278.00p +2.24%Aggreko (AGK) 2,131.00p +2.01%Evraz (EVR) 393.00p +1.87%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,195.00p +1.79%Serco Group (SRP) 500.00p +1.77%WPP (WPP) 701.00p +1.59%Experian (EXPN) 864.50p +1.35%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,174.00p +1.30%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,088.00p +1.26%FTSE 100 - FallersEssar Energy (ESSR) 162.00p -5.10%Man Group (EMG) 107.30p -4.79%Barclays (BARC) 178.10p -4.45%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,435.00p -4.14%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 26.19p -3.39%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,027.00p -3.20%Schroders (SDR) 1,256.00p -3.01%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,234.00p -2.83%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 412.20p -2.78%Vedanta Resources (VED) 978.00p -2.78%FTSE 250 - RisersJD Sports Fashion (JD.) 700.00p +6.06%Carpetright (CPR) 543.00p +5.85%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 429.80p +5.34%Persimmon (PSN) 506.50p +5.30%Redrow (RDW) 122.30p +4.53%Senior (SNR) 185.00p +4.40%Telecity Group (TCY) 656.50p +4.12%Unite Group (UTG) 169.80p +3.54%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 105.40p +2.93%Galliford Try (GFRD) 478.00p +2.91%FTSE 250 - FallersHome Retail Group (HOME) 86.65p -6.02%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 182.40p -5.74%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 188.50p -3.83%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 152.00p -3.68%Ocado Group (OCDO) 56.00p -3.53%Henderson Group (HGG) 97.80p -2.88%Debenhams (DEB) 56.90p -2.82%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,702.00p -2.56%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 17.03p -2.52%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 168.00p -2.50%