London close: record gold price = scared investors

18th Jul 2011 16:03

Stock markets fell across the board today as concerns persist over European and US sovereign debt.Friday's European banking stress tests were seen as something of a damp squib by markets after they failed to adequately analyse the impact sovereign debt default would have on the Continent's banks.Yields on Italy's benchmark 10-year debt reached record highs of over 6% and were matched cheek by jowel by Spanish debt, as Iberian yields reached almost 6.4%. Just to prove how concerned investors were, the price of gold leapt $16 - or 1% - to a record high of $1,606 as people squirreled their money away in the ultimate safe haven.The script was duly played out on the FTSE100 as Fresnillo and Randgold were the biggest risers, while some of the UK's largest banks - Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland all saw shares fall.Elsewhere, investors were betting on casino and bingo hall operator Rank, which confirmed this morning that it will remain a listed company after the closure of an offer from Malaysian investment group Guoco.Commodity trading house Glencore is adding to its metal assets in Peru with the purchase of a 70% stake in Marcobre, which owns the Marcona Copper property and the Mina Justa exploration and development project, for $475m (£295m).Global engineering giant GKN is looking to expand its Land Systems division after announcing that it is to acquire engineer Stromag for €164m (£146m). This announcement did not impress investors and shares fell 4.6%.Staffing company SThree posted a rise in profits in the six months to May 29 as market conditions improved. Pre-tax profits climbed to £11.2m from £7.3m over the same period the previous year, while revenues rose to £254.9m from £221.7m.Among smaller companies, carpet and flooring retailer United Carpets rolled out a 13% increase in annual pre-tax profit as total like-for-like sales fell by 1.4% in the first 15 weeks of the new financial year. For the year ended 31 March 2011 revenue was unchanged at £27.5m while pre-tax profit rose to £1.243m from £1.098m in 2010.Shares in energy storage and clean fuel company ITM Power jumped after it announced that FTSE 250-listed support services group Carillion is to use its technology for operating hydrogen-powered Ford Transit vehicles in a week-long trial later this month.A special mention in dispatches goes to technology firm Seeing Machines. Its shares doubled at one point after it trumpeted the arrival of the world's first 3D laptop that requires no special glasses for watching movies or playing games in 3D. Seeing Machines' said its faceAPI technology was a key technological component in the glasses-free 3D capability, allowing the laptop's built-in webcam to track the viewer's eye position. It closed up 93%.Shares in Coms, which provides internet telephony services, rocketed 60% after it announced the launch of its new service for Apple iPad users. The firm's VoIP (Voice over IP) telephone service enables iPad users to make and receive telephone calls over their internet connection. Angel Biotechnology initially slumped 7% after the biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer reported a net loss for the six months to 30 June as investors, who rejoiced the company's maiden profit last year, turned sour on the company. It closed down 4.5% on the day.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,659.00p +2.09%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,560.00p +1.74%ARM Holdings (ARM) 569.00p +0.89%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 713.50p +0.56%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,075.00p +0.53%Centrica (CNA) 318.50p +0.35%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,730.00p +0.35%British Land Co (BLND) 604.50p 0.00%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,427.00p -0.07%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,148.00p -0.09%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 41.34p -7.47%Barclays (BARC) 207.65p -7.01%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 32.97p -6.04%GKN (GKN) 227.90p -4.64%ITV (ITV) 63.65p -4.57%IMI (IMI) 1,037.00p -4.51%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 265.00p -4.44%Old Mutual (OML) 125.50p -4.34%Man Group (EMG) 231.00p -4.23%Cairn Energy (CNE) 371.50p -4.10%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 141.50p +4.20%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 15.89p +3.92%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 472.30p +3.71%PZ Cussons (PZC) 370.00p +2.75%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 509.50p +2.64%Rank Group (RNK) 153.70p +1.79%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,954.00p +1.51%Computacenter (CCC) 471.00p +0.94%BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 17.10 +0.83%UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) 80.00p +0.63%FTSE 250 - FallersInchcape (INCH) 373.80p -8.18%Punch Taverns (PUB) 66.85p -5.98%Ashtead Group (AHT) 155.70p -5.92%TUI Travel (TT.) 178.20p -5.86%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 53.25p -5.75%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 411.40p -5.43%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 67.00p -4.90%easyJet (EZJ) 301.00p -4.84%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 104.60p -4.82%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 132.30p -4.82%FTSE TechMARK - RisersSkyepharma (SKP) 44.50p +3.49%Timeweave (TMW) 27.00p +3.35%Ceva Inc. (CVA) 1,750.00p +2.94%Filtronic (FTC) 25.50p +1.49%Optos (OPTS) 164.50p +0.92%AEA Technology Group (AAT) 3.45p +0.73%Xaar (XAR) 276.00p +0.73%Phytopharm (PYM) 7.80p +0.65%Antisoma (ASM) 2.58p +0.19%Kewill (KWL) 100.88p +0.12%FTSE TechMARK - FallersVectura Group (VEC) 91.00p -5.21%CML Microsystems (CML) 216.00p -5.05%DRS Data & Research Services (DRS) 20.00p -4.76%Promethean World (PRW) 61.50p -4.28%E2V Technologies (E2V) 123.75p -4.26%Torotrak (TRK) 53.25p -3.18%Emblaze Ltd. (BLZ) 59.12p -2.87%Ark Therapeutics Group (AKT) 4.75p -2.56%Vernalis (VER) 38.50p -2.53%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 163.50p -2.53%