London Close - FTSE flat as investors eye Italy

7th Nov 2011 16:55

UK prices were broadly flat on Monday dropping just 0.3% following steady rises since early September. However, investors are keeping a wary eye on developments in Italy. The human comedy sketch known as Silvio "Il Cavalieri" Berlusconi, appears to be teetering on the edge of losing power. The precariousness of his position was underlined earlier today when the spread between Italian and German 10 year bonds reached a record since the introduction of the Euro currency. Berlusconi faces a vote on a revised budget tomorrow which could decide his ultimate fate.CHOPPY WATERS AHEAD FOR WEIRIn UK equities, International Consolidated Airlines Group, the owner of BA, has led the fallers, dropping 3.54% as investors mull the firm's proposed purchase of BMI. Elsewhere, Scottish engineering firm Weir, the company which saw a five-fold increase in its share price between January 2009 and August of this year, was down 3.68%. As was the case with its August trading update, the numbers looks all right but the company has been talking down its own prospects. Revenues in the third quarter grew more strongly than the first half of the year and also on a like for like basis against the same period of 2010. However, referring to its oil and gas business, Weir warns "downstream market conditions remain challenging". As for the Power and Industrial arm, "overall market conditions remain mixed with continuing delays in nuclear projects and largely weak general industrial markets".The market was not impressed with the third quarter trading update from Essar Energy, either. The India-focused integrated energy company said total energy generated during the period rose to 1,553mWh (megawatt hours), 4% higher compared to 1,498mWh for the same period a year ago.The company said higher gas prices, resulting in a higher generation cost, have sapped demand at its gas-based plants in recent months. Essar fell 1.79% on the day.ICAP LEADS RISERSThe leading FTSE 100 riser today was ICAP, the inter-dealer broker which saw a rise of 2.7%. It was followed by Randgold Resources, the gold miner, up just shy of 2%.One interesting FTSE 250 stock was struggling food manufacturer Premier Foods. It has been given a bit of breathing space by its bankers, who have agreed to defer the company's end-of-year loan covenant tests by three months. It was up 9.9% at close.Another stock on the rise was Carphone Warehouse (up 1.08%), after it confirmed it is simplifying its business relationship with US consumer electronics giant Best Buy, by selling it some assets and forming a new joint venture.Carphone Warehouse is selling its share of Best Buy Mobile's US and Canadian business to the US firm for £838m. The company intends to return £813m of cash to shareholders through a share issue which will give shareholders the option of income or capital. It also announced plans to shut down its 11 loss-making edge-of-town consumer electronics barns.Rentokil, the pest control and cleaning services company, has seen profits drop in the third quarter as its City Link delivery business continues to drag the group down. Adjusted profits before tax were down 11% on the equivalent period of 2010 although revenues did inch 0.6% higher. That didn't please investors though, shares were down 3.39% at close.SMALL CAPSUp for sale property consultancy DTZ has seen its stock market value obliterated after admitting its shares are virtually worthless. It finished the day down 87%Engineering solutions provider Costain said it continues to perform well and trading is in line with the board's expectations. The group's order book has increased to £2.6bn following the strong performance reported in the interim results in August. The figures includes the recently announced award by Network Rail of the London Bridge Station. Combined all the cheery news pushed Costain up 1.25%.FTSE 100 - RisersICAP (IAP) 362.70p +3.51%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,455.00p +1.98%SSE (SSE) 1,338.00p +1.83%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,568.00p +1.62%International Power (IPR) 335.30p +1.61%Centrica (CNA) 302.50p +1.61%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,866.00p +1.47%Anglo American (AAL) 2,369.50p +1.33%United Utilities Group (UU.) 624.00p +1.22%Next (NXT) 2,756.00p +1.17%FTSE 100 - FallersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 149.80p -4.53%ARM Holdings (ARM) 620.50p -3.80%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,860.00p -3.68%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 22.25p -3.64%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 27.69p -3.06%Hammerson (HMSO) 395.00p -2.85%ITV (ITV) 63.55p -2.46%Rexam (REX) 336.80p -2.43%IMI (IMI) 803.50p -2.31%Barclays (BARC) 179.35p -2.29%FTSE 250 - RisersPremier Foods (PFD) 3.70p +9.90%Supergroup (SGP) 652.00p +8.76%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 514.00p +3.55%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 567.00p +2.90%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 897.00p +2.75%Betfair Group (BET) 789.50p +2.60%FTSE 250 - FallersAfren (AFR) 74.90p -8.55%Homeserve (HSV) 297.10p -7.85%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 485.00p -6.19%Invensys (ISYS) 210.20p -5.74%Cape (CIU) 452.40p -4.96%SThree (STHR) 239.90p -4.91%BS