London close: Footsie stumbles as recovery falters

15th Dec 2010 16:42

Footsie closed lower after a recovery following a decent performance on Wall Street fell just short.Shares were under the weather earlier on, with the eurozone debt situation helping to darken the mood, but later moved back towards the blue as strong economic data in the US buoyed sentiment. Figures on manufacturing and industrial output released by the Federal Reserve were ahead of expectations. In company news here, retail-focused property group Capital Shopping Centres has rejected a 425p a share takeover proposal from US mall owner Simon Property. It said it considers the proposed offer, which values Capital at about £3bn, to be 'yet another attempt by Simon' to frustrate the acquisition of the Trafford Centre in Manchester.Elsewhere in property, Hammerson and its partner, the Oman Investment Fund, have sold their interest in the Bishops Square office building, London E1, to two funds run by JP Morgan. Hammerson will net £79m, representing a surplus of £34m over the June book value.Oil company BG Group has discovered gas in the deepwater Qiongdongnan basin in the South China Sea at its first attempt. The Lingshui 22-1-1 exploration well on Block 64/11, about 130 kilometres offshore, encountered gas-bearing sands, BG confirmed Wednesday.Early signs for Christmas trade are "very encouraging" at SuperGroup, but that didn't stop its share price taking a bashing. Sales rose by 65% in the first half, driving a 69% surge in underlying profit at the firm focused on affordable youth fashion. Profit before tax, the impact of financial derivatives, and a new accounting policy, jumped to £13.5m in the 26 weeks ended 31 October, up from £8m a year ago. Sales rose to £90.3m from £54.7m.Engineer Senior has seen a decent tailwind since October with underlying profits slightly ahead of expectations in each of the past two months. As a consequence, underlying profits overall for 2010 will be above the top end of the previous market range of £61.0m to £63.5m. Recovery at electrical components group Laird has continued, with trading conditions overall still in line with its upbeat update in October. FTSE 100 - RisersCapital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 415.60p +4.87%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,475.00p +4.83%Rexam (REX) 322.60p +3.76%Experian (EXPN) 812.50p +2.65%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,801.00p +2.10%Whitbread (WTB) 1,774.00p +1.95%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,513.00p +1.68%Man Group (EMG) 292.20p +1.67%Essar Energy (ESSR) 586.00p +1.56%Invensys (ISYS) 343.80p +1.54%FTSE 100 - FallersBarclays (BARC) 262.00p -3.68%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,555.00p -2.51%British Airways (BAY) 272.40p -2.01%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,655.00p -1.99%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,215.00p -1.70%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 661.10p -1.58%Sage Group (SGE) 279.00p -1.48%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 40.76p -1.40%United Utilities Group (UU.) 590.00p -1.34%Standard Life (SL.) 209.70p -1.32%FTSE 250 - RisersMichael Page International (MPI) 535.50p +7.10%Misys (MSY) 312.00p +4.52%International Personal Finance (IPF) 362.80p +4.07%Xchanging (XCH) 106.10p +3.92%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 385.00p +3.49%Victrex (VCT) 1,486.00p +2.84%Synergy Health (SYR) 894.00p +2.76%Senior (SNR) 145.00p +2.69%SThree (STHR) 343.40p +2.66%Greggs (GRG) 470.60p +2.53%FTSE 250 - FallersSupergroup (SGP) 1,450.00p -10.93%Marston's (MARS) 110.80p -4.73%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 27.33p -4.24%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 25.96p -3.85%Persimmon (PSN) 411.40p -3.70%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,510.00p -3.51%Rightmove (RMV) 743.00p -3.51%Chemring Group (CHG) 2,927.00p -3.05%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 84.60p -3.04%Keller Group (KLR) 590.00p -2.88%