London pre-open: Negative start ahead

24th Nov 2009 07:31

London's blue chips are expected to start around 50 points lower, falling back from yesterdays triple-digit gains. Footsie closed more than 100 points higher on Monday thanks to a record price for gold, an early rally on Wall Street and strength across the financial sector.Lloyds Banking Group has priced its world record £13.5bn rights issue at 37p a share, a discount of 59.5% to last night's closing price. Britain's third-largest lender will offer shareholders the chance to buy a total of 36.5bn shares on the basis of 1.34 new shares for every 1 share held. The cash call represents a discount of 38.6% to the theoretical ex-rights price (TERP) based on Monday's closing price, in line with previous indications.Tile and flooring specialist Topps Tiles is to shore up its balance sheet with a placing of up to 17.1m new of shares, approximately 10% of its issued ordinary share capital. Water supplier Severn Trent posted a rise in turnover and profits in the six months to September 30 and lifted its dividend ahead of the regulator's final decision on how much it can charge customers over the next five years. Investment company Alliance Trust beefed up its exposure to equities to 90.6% during the quarter ending 31 October, with particular focus on stocks that will benefit from an upturn in economic activity.Housebuilder Bovis announced that its finance director Neil Cooper will leave the company to take the same job at bookmaker William Hill. Petrofac, the oil & gas facilities service provider, said it has established a joint venture agreement with Zamil to create and operate a new service centre facility in Saudi Arabia. One-off charges lowered first half profits at banknote printer and cash handling machines specialist De La Rue, but currency translation benefits and good banknote demand meant a strong underlying performance.