London open: Footsie wobbles on Dubai slump

30th Nov 2009 08:36

News of heavy selling in the Middle East, which began trading for the first time today following the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid, had markets in retreat Monday.Futures prices had indicated an early 30-point gain for London after Asian markets rallied on expectations the potential fallout from the Dubai debt default crisis would not be as bad as feared.The main Abu Dhabi index has taken a big hit, dropping over 8%, as shares in the National Bank of Abu Dhabi plunged about 10%. Dubai World was off 15% on the Dubai exchange.Markets close for Middle East investors again from Wednesday morning until next week, meaning conditions are likely to remain volatile short-term. Over here, there was disappointment at a surprise drop in UK consumer confidence in November. Figures from market research firm Gfk NOP showed sentiment fell to -17 from -13 in October.But UK house prices continued to edge higher in November, rising for the fourth month in succession, according to Hometrack. It said the average cost of a home in England and Wales rose 0.2% in November from October, to £156,700, although they're still down 2.9% on last year.On the companies front, pre-tax profits were ahead of expectations in the year to September 30 at travel operator Thomas Cook, as the increased ticket prices to cope with falling customer numbers. The company posted an adjusted pre-tax profit of £308.2m, down slightly from £309.3m the previous year, as revenues climbed to £9.27bn from £8.75bn.Aberdeen Asset's purchase of businesses from Credit Suisse gave assets under management a boost in the year to September, but the fund manager still suffered a 20% slump in profits. Underlying profit before tax fell to £85.1m from £95.1m a year ago, but dived to £10.5m from £60.5m after exceptional items, such as costs related to acquisitions, redundancy payments and other rationalisation charges.Oil and gas firm Cairn Energy is to make Capricorn a wholly owned subsidiary by buying out minority shareholder Dyas's 9.99% stake for $95m, to be satisfied through a mixture of newly issued shares and cash. Cairn The board of pub group Mitchells and Butlers has approached the Takeover Panel to rule whether a group of shareholders has been trying to gain control of the board after they blocked three potential candidates for chairman. Reports over the weekend suggested that one of those candidates was Archie Norman, the former head of Asda and recently appointed chairman of ITV.Irish banking group Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has confirmed its participation in the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) asset acquisition programme. NAMA has yet to specify which of Allied Irish's loans it intends to buy under the scheme, but expects it will be land and development loans totalling €24.2bn on a gross loan basis. Expectations are that AIB will have to take around a 30% 'haircut' on the value of its assets in return for the boost to liquidity.