Markets: FTSE 100 tumbles on Japan fears

17:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) ended the day almost 2% lower on Tuesday, as the full extent of the damage caused by the events in Japan seeped through to the markets.

Having dropped as much as 3% at one stage earlier in the day, London's leading share index eventually ended the day 80 points lower at 5695.

Fresnillo (FRES) took the unwanted title of worst-performing stock of the day, having shed over 4% in afternoon trading.

At a glance...

Commodities

Gold: $1,392.34

WTI crude oil: $99.20

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.6086

GBP/EUR: 1.1510

EUR/USD: 1.3987

16:35 - Wall Street remained immersed in red, as investors fled in the wake of Japan's problems.

Insurers in particular were suffering, as the nuclear fallout in Fukushima continued.

The Dow Jones was down 183 points at 11810, while the S&P 500 sunk 19 to 1277 and the Nasdaq dropped 39 to 2661.

16:14 - Shares in insurance underwriter Lancashire Holdings (LRE) took a tumble on Tuesday as investors anticipated the firm coming under pressure from the disasters in Japan.

The company issued a statement explaining it is too early to give a meaningful estimate of costs relating to the tragic loss of life and significant property damage in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami.

For more, read: Lancashire Holdings hit by Japanese disasters.

15:56 - The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined ActivTrades Plc, a foreign exchange broker, £85,750 for failing to protect clients' assets adequately.

Under the FSA's client money rules, firms are required to keep client money separate from the firm's money in segregated accounts with trust status. This helps to safeguard and ring-fence the client money in the event of the firm's insolvency.

For more, read: FSA fines foreign exchange broker.

15:39 - Engineer Billington Holdings (BILN) posted a drop in overall profit in 2010 to £0.8 billion, from £1.6 billion in 2009.

Peter Hems, executive chairman of the firm, said: "2010 was another challenging year for the construction and structural steelwork industry. Despite this we have remained profitable and ended the year with a cash balance of £4.9 million."

The year-end cash balance in 2009 was £8.5 million.

15:24 - Social housing repair and domiciliary care provider Mears Group (MER) announced record results for the year ended 31 December today.

Operating profit was up 27% for the year at £31.3 million, compared to £24.8 million in 2009.

Social housing revenue was boosted 7% to £379.4 million, while domiciliary care revenue jumped 67% to £100.4 million.

15:06 - Oil and gas explorer Circle Oil (COP) has spudded its fifth and final well on the Sebou Permit drilling campaign in Morocco, following improved ground conditions.

The AIM-listed company said well KSR-11 is targeting the Hoot formation - similar to those previously proved in KSR 8 and KSR 10 - at a depth of 1,750 metres.

The company, which also has assets in Egypt, Oman and Tunisia, said drilling, logging and if successful, testing of the well is likely to take up to six weeks to complete.

14:52 - US markets were the latest indices to feel the force of events in Japan, with investors focusing on news the damage at the nuclear reactor in Fukushima was worsening.

The Dow Jones slumped 200 points to 11794, while the Nasdaq dropped 47 to 2653 and the S&P 500 fell 22 to 1282.

14:29 - Oil and gas explorer Range Resources (RRL) and its partners have drilled the Cotton Valley Ross 3H #1 well in Texas.

The well reached a total depth of around 5,500 feet and will now be logged, before the partners plug back and initiate horizontal drilling operations.

AIM-quoted Range said mud logging results have been encouraging thus far, with oil shows over an interval more than 400 feet thick.

Why not watch our interview with Range's executive director, Peter Landrau, for his view on the firm's prospects in 2011?

14:10 - Nasdaq OMX Group is preparing to launch a $12 billion (£7.5 billion) bid to buy NYSE Euronext this week, according to unnamed sources in US media reports.

The US technology exchange is said to be seeking $5 billion debt to fund the bid.

The deal would compete directly with the $10.2 billion tie-up between NYSE and Deutsche Boerse already agreed in February.

No official comment has been made at this stage.

13:57 - AIM-listed firm Scotgold (SGZ), which operates in Scotland's only remaining gold mine said it was targeting first production within about 15 months.

The company said the target was subject to the grant of planning approval and was based on the positive outcome of a scoping study conducted by Australian Mining Consultants UK in 2009.

Based on the 2009 study, at a gold price of $1,270, the project located in Cononish, central Scotland would generate around $87 million over its lifetime.

The firm's application to mine for gold and silver was rebuffed by the National Park Board last summer, but it believes it is closer to receiving approval.

13:36 - Infrastructure investment company HSBC Infrastructure Company (HICL) has increased its investment in the Dutch high speed rail public/private partnership project.

HICL has increased its equity and loan note interests in the project to 42.99% from 37.50% at a cost of €11.6 million (£10 million). The company said this price compares favourably with the valuation of the project in the company's portfolio as at 30 September 2010.

The acquisition brings the number of incremental acquisitions undertaken by the company since launch to 19.

The company is scheduled to change its name to HICL Infrastructure on 29 March.

13:17 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) remained deep in the doldrums on Tuesday, with investors' attention firmly trained toward events in Japan.

London's leading share index was nursing huge losses, down 152 points at 5623, as only high street retailer Next (NXT) managed to post any gains.

Miners dominated the losers' board, with Mexican silver producer Fresnillo (FRES) bottom of the pack having fallen over 7%.

For more on the potential impact of events in Japan, read: How hard will business be hit by Japan quake?

12:59 - Investor confidence in Germany unexpectedly fell to 14.1 from 15.7 in February and missed expectations of 15.9.

The data weighed on the euro, which was already down on risk adverse sentiment due to the ongoing Japanese nuclear crisis.

The single currency was 0.76% down against the dollar at 1.3883 and 1.16% against the yen at 112.9450.

Negative commentary from European Central Bank president Jean Claude Trichet on the EU economic agreement reached over the weekend, was a further drag on the euro.

12:40 - There were mixed results at merchant bank Close Brothers (CBG) as strong profit in its banking business was offset by a loss in other areas.

Operating pre-tax profit in the six months to 31 January 2011 dipped to £55.8 million from £61.8 million in the corresponding period the year before.

Read: Close Brothers endures mixed bag of results, for the full story.

12:21 - The tragic events in Japan over the last five days mean that supplies of LNG to the EU will now be vulnerable to diversion to Japan, analysts at Deutsche Bank warned.

They forecast that Japan could receive in the range of 5-12 billion cubic metres per annum for the foreseeable future which it calls a potential "game changer" for the EU gas market which has been over-supplied in the last two years.

"Other things being equal, we would expect the disaster in Japan to accelerate the return to a physically balanced EU gas market, and hence to accelerate the re-convergence of EU market prices towards oil-indexed levels," they said.

12:03 - Shares in struggling sportswear retailer JJB Sports (JJB) took a hit on Tuesday as it confirmed its intention to raise £65 million through a new share placing.

But this can only happen if its landlords agree to a new company voluntary agreement at a meeting on 22 March. If there is a challenge, it has to be resolved by the end of June or else the placing won't go ahead.

For more, read: JJB Sports to launch share placing.

11:45 - Jubilee Platinum (JLP) has secured a £15 million Standby Equity Distribution Agreement as it eyes up acquisition opportunities.

The company said the facility will allow it to act promptly on opportunities to acquire chrome and platinum properties.

The AIM-listed group has current cash of £8 million.

11:27 - Energy consultant KBC Advanced Technologies (KBC) said it had an "excellent year" for new business and sales awards in 2010.

In the 12 months to 31 December sales awards increased by 22% to £67.8 million, with second-half sales hitting a record for the group.

But underlying pre-tax profit was down to £4.9 million from £5.7 million in 2009, which the firm said was largely due to unfavourable foreign exchange rate movements.

The board increased total dividend per share by 19% to reflect its confidence in the year ahead.

11:02 - Antenna developer MTI Wireless Edge (MWE) saw full-year 2010 revenues remained static overall at $13.5 million (£8.43 million), but with an increasing trend in the second half of the year.

Gross profit fell 9% to $4.3 million (2009: $4.7 million) and there was an operating loss of $0.65 million compared to profit of $0.1 million in 2009.

Chief executive Dov Feiner described 2010 as "a very challenging year", but added "there was a return to growth in the second half of 2010 and material positive cash flow in the last quarter of the year ($526,000)".

10:43 - High street retailer Debenhams (DEB) posted a marginally better-than-expected fall in sales for the first half of the year, adding that headline profit is expected to beat last year's figure.

Like-for-like sales for the 26 weeks to 26 February fell 1.5% excluding VAT, but were flat including tax. Sales had fallen 1.3% excluding tax in the 19 weeks to 8 January (up 0.3% including tax).

For more, read: Debenhams buoyed by steady results.

10:24 - Oil major Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) is on track to hit its strategic targets next year, after making good progress in 2010.

The Anglo-Dutch giant said it should achieve its 50-80% increase in cash flow operations between 2009-2012, after notching up a 40% improvement in operating cash flow last year amid lower costs and higher production.

For more, read: Shell to ramp up production by 2014.

09:59 - Construction consultancy Cyril Sweett (CSG) has struck alliance agreements with two project management firms in the US.

The AIM-quoted company said the agreements with Washington-based Alpha Corporation and New York City-based VVA marked the latest step in its strategy to widen its international footprint.

09:30 - Stellar Diamonds (STEL) announced encouraging diamond grades from its initial bulk sampling programme at the Bouro kimberlite dyke project in Guinea.

The AIM-listed diamond miner said the first sample of 233 tonnes unearthed 565 carats. Twenty stones of greater than one carat were recovered, with the largest diamond measured at 3.67 carats.

Stellar, which has conditionally raised £6.2 million through a share placing, said it has the necessary funds in place to advance its development of its portfolio of high grade kimberlites.

09:01 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) took an eight-point tumble in response to the Tokyo markets losing 11% overnight. Ongoing explosions and fears of a nuclear catastrophe in Japan are expected to make London trading jittery on Tuesday.

Futures prices suggest the index may lose as much as 110 in early trading.

There are a handful of blue chips holding steady, including retailers Debenhams (DEB), Marks and Spencer (MKS) and Next (NXT).

Miners are taking a beating led by ENRC (ENRC) and Kazakhmys (KAZ).

Security firm G4S (GFS) saw profit before interest, tax and amortisation rise to £527 million in 2010 from £506 million the year before. Turnover rose 4.1% to £7.4 billion.

Organic turnover growth was 2.1%, down from a growth rate of 3.7% in 2009.

For the full story, read: G4S shares fall despite rising profit.

At a glance...

Asian markets

Nikkei 225: 8605 (down 1015)

Hang Seng 22678 (down 667)

Shanghai Composite: 2897 (down 40)

Commodities

Gold: $1,424.60

WTI crude oil: $99.71

Currencies

GBP/USD: 1.6056

GBP/EUR: 1.1535

EUR/USD: 1.3928

08:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) opens at 5775.