London close: Footsie ends weakly

19th Nov 2009 16:46

Footsie turned sharply lower at the close after a very poor start on Wall Street with the Dow down by more than 150 points in the first few hours.Miners bore the brunt of the selling with Antofagasta, Anglo American, Xstrata, Randgold Resources, Rio Tinto and Vedanta all lower. Platinum refiner Johnson Matthey also came under pressure as the dollar rallied a little.Brewer SABMiller cheered the market with better than expected interim results. The Miller Lite and Peroni brewer reported a 1% fall in lager volumes over the six months to September 30 as growth in Africa and Asia was offset by weakness in more developed markets.Merger speculation is driving household goods firm Reckitt Benckiser higher. The Dettol and Cillit Bang maker is rumoured to be in merger talks with US peer Colgate-Palmolive.Bid speculation is also heating up the Centrica share price, with the energy provider said to be in the sights of Russian energy company Gazprom.Supermarket chain Morrisons reported a 4.3% rise in like-for-like sales and left its expectations for the current year unchanged. Oil company BG had more good news in Brazil where well tests on the Iracema appraisal well in the Tupi area, Santos Basin, reported record productivity.Gas and electricity pipeline grid operator National Grid upped its interim dividend after posting a 16% rise in pre-tax profits. Pre-tax profit rose to £649m in the six month ended 30 September compared with £558m last time, supported by lower financing costs. The interim dividend has been increased from 12.6p to 13.6p.Anglo-Swiss drug giant AstraZeneca has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Brilinta blood cot prevention treatment.Moving on to second-liners, bike and car parts chain Halfords has upped the interim divided by a fifth after increasing first half profit by 24%, and remains confident that business over the next six months will beat the previous year. Semiconductor designer ARM was a late faller after a bearish note on prospects for the semiconductor industry by Bank of America.Water firm Pennon Group reported a 13% rise in half year pre-tax profit and said its businesses are 'well positioned in the current economic slowdown.'Building and civil engineering contractor Kier has announced the appointment of Paul Sheffield to succeed John Dodds as chief executive. Payment services group Paypoint reported a 10% drop in half year pre-tax profit but said it was confident about its growth prospects. Military decoy specialist Chemring reported a strong order book and said the outlook for 2010 remains in line with expectations.Profit fell at South African bank Investec during the first half, but was "comfortably" ahead of the second half of last year as assets under management rose almost 29%.Materials company Morgan Crucible said that demand for its products has stabilised after a soft summer and expects its performance over the second half of the year to be in line with expectations.Melrose said current trading is marginally ahead of management expectations for 2009 as the engineering conglomerate benefited from being exposed to different product sectors and geographical areas.Derwent London, which rents out offices in the capital, has managed to keep vacancies low and is seeing an increase in investor demand, particularly in the city centre.Outsourced workplaces provider Regus reported a 9.5% drop in revenues and said it remains cautious in its outlook for 2010.Mobile computer software firm Psion took a tumble, as hopes a slight improvement in sales activity and order intake reported in August would turn into a bigger improvement were dashed.FTSE 100 - RisersSABMiller (SAB) 1,714.00p +3.44%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,140.00p +1.13%National Grid (NG.) 645.50p +0.86%Resolution (RSL) 90.30p +0.73%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 89.94p +0.42%FTSE 100 - FallersAntofagasta (ANTO) 890.50p -5.37%Fresnillo (FRES) 871.50p -5.27%Xstrata (XTA) 1,070.00p -5.06%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,549.00p -4.38%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,273.00p -4.07%FTSE 250 - RisersHeritage Oil (HOIL) 483.00p +3.21%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 332.70p +2.56%Synergy Healthcare (SYR) 646.50p +2.29%888 Holdings (888) 109.40p +2.24%Telecity Group (TCY) 332.50p +1.96%FTSE 250 - FallersDaejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,752.00p -9.77%Renishaw (RSW) 485.00p -7.18%ARM Holdings (ARM) 156.00p -6.87%Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 166.30p -6.78%CSR (CSR) 434.40p -6.68%