London open: Admiral drags Footsie into the red

24th Aug 2011 08:29

Early gains proved short-lived as the blue chip index in London fell into the red by 08.32, dragged lower by Admiral and the miners, who were registering losses on the back of falling metals prices.Admiral was the worst performer on the FTSE 100, losing over 5% after despite pre-tax profits growing by 27%. However, according to a Thomson Reuters poll, the result was a slight miss though.Gold, copper and silver prices were on the decline in the morning, hitting shares in the mining sector with Randgold Resources, Fresnillo and Vedanta Resources among the fallers. Sector peer BHP Billiton, however, was making small gains after seeing a 35.9% jump in revenue in the year ended June. The final dividend was upped by 22%.Outsourcing firm Serco fell despite saying it overcame UK and US headwinds to deliver a 12.2% rise in adjusted pre-tax profit, driven by its international portfolio. ENRC, Catlin and WS Atkins were also among the fallers after going ex-dividend.On the rise, however, were the financials, with Man Group, RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and ICAP posting decent gains.Advertising and marketing group WPP, led by chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell, rose saying the "post-Lehman bounce-back" has continued as it posted pre-tax profit growth of 37% on sales that grew 6.1% in the six months to 30 June.Africa-focused oil giant Tullow Oil was firmer after it reported a huge surge in sales and profits in the six months ended 30 June, helped by increased production from the Jubilee field off Ghana and higher commodity prices.Tesco was edging higher after an announcement that Andrew Higginson, chief executive of Retailing Services at the supermarket giant, is heading for the check-out counter next year.BCFTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 203.60p +3.82%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 20.35p +1.75%WPP (WPP) 590.00p +1.72%G4S (GFS) 268.90p +1.70%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 28.70p +1.41%Tullow Oil (TLW) 958.50p +1.27%Cairn Energy (CNE) 295.90p +0.68%Next (NXT) 2,252.00p +0.63%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 165.00p +0.61%Tesco (TSCO) 379.45p +0.60%FTSE 100 - FallersAdmiral Group (ADM) 1,461.00p -4.82%Serco Group (SRP) 510.00p -4.14%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,440.00p -3.01%SABMiller (SAB) 2,041.50p -2.18%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 600.00p -1.96%Diageo (DGE) 1,100.00p -1.96%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,865.00p -1.43%John Wood Group (WG.) 535.50p -1.29%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,038.00p -1.05%Sage Group (SGE) 242.80p -0.98%FTSE 250 - RisersUnite Group (UTG) 163.00p +6.61%Ashtead Group (AHT) 103.00p +3.62%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 565.00p +2.73%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 321.90p +2.52%Carillion (CLLN) 318.80p +2.41%Debenhams (DEB) 58.00p +2.38%Michael Page International (MPI) 371.00p +2.34%St James's Place (STJ) 323.80p +2.31%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 321.50p +2.10%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 227.80p +1.92%FTSE 250 - FallersAtkins (WS) (ATK) 524.50p -2.78%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 38.26p -2.47%Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 360.20p -1.91%William Hill (WMH) 215.30p -1.73%Northgate (NTG) 262.80p -1.68%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 612.50p -1.53%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 41.00p -1.47%UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) 79.10p -1.43%Regus (RGU) 66.05p -1.42%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 75.00p -1.32%