London midday: Old Mutual sinks on HSBC withdrawal

15th Oct 2010 12:36

Insurers are leading the market lower on a day when investors are, in any case, reluctant to commit new funds ahead of this afternoon's speech from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Citigroup has downgraded the insurance sector, prompting sharp mark-downs in the prices of RSA, Standard Life and Legal & General but it is insurance firm Old Mutual that is the main casualty after banking giant HSBC said is not going to go through with its proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in South African bank Nedbank from the insurer.HSBC said it is not in a position to make an offer for Nedbank as due diligence on the deal resulted in unexpected difficulties.Resolution, the insurance sector consolidator run by entrepreneur Clive Cowdery, bucks the trend and moves higher after announcing it is buying Bupa Health Assurance for £102m.Reckitt Benckiser has been fined £10.2m for abuse of the dominant market position of its heartburn treatment Gaviscon in 2005.Gearbox designer Hansen Transmissions International moved up a couple fo gears on news it is to sell its loss making industrial gearbox division to concentrate on wind turbines.Information technology services firm Computacenter saw growth rates quicken in the third quarter. Like for like (LFL) growth, which excludes acquisitions and disposals, was 14%, or 17% on a constant currency basis, dragging year to date growth rates up to 8% and 11% respectively.Bus company Stagecoach is to re-enter the London market after acquiring the third largest bus operator in London. Stagecoach is paying £59.5m in cash for the bus business formerly owned by East London Bus Group, which is in administration. The acquisition is expected to modestly boost Stagecoach's earnings in the first year of ownership. Desire Petroleum's 14/15-1 well on the Rachel prospect in the North Falkland Basin, has reached a total depth of 2,877 metres, but initial wireline logging showed no oil or gas. Jatropha-based biodiesel products developer D1 Oils today confirmed that none of the parties it's been talking to are willing to launch a bid.FTSE 100 - RisersBT Group (BT.A) 146.10p +2.03%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 638.00p +1.59%Man Group (EMG) 267.20p +1.33%Barclays (BARC) 283.60p +1.30%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 254.40p +1.15%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 45.76p +1.02%Experian (EXPN) 707.00p +0.71%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 70.93p +0.65%Capita Group (CPI) 797.50p +0.57%BAE Systems (BA.) 368.50p +0.55%FTSE 100 - FallersOld Mutual (OML) 136.70p -5.85%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 132.00p -3.08%Standard Life (SL.) 227.60p -2.98%Xstrata (XTA) 1,306.00p -2.68%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,387.00p -2.12%Carnival (CCL) 2,550.00p -1.81%Cairn Energy (CNE) 432.80p -1.73%Inmarsat (ISAT) 625.00p -1.50%Burberry Group (BRBY) 973.50p -1.47%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 103.60p -1.43%