Markets: FTSE 100 down on miners

Interactive Investor News Team
19.11.09

17:00 - London markets were a sea of red by the end of Thursday as they followed Wall Street into negative territory.

The FTSE 100 slid 74 points to 5268 with miners slumping as commodity prices fell back. Antofagasta (ANTO), Fresnillo (FRES) and Xstrata (XTA) all lost more than 5%.

16:41 - Wall Street plunged heavily into the red amid weak third quarter housing data and a stronger US dollar.

Energy and material stocks showed the biggest losses as a jump in the dollar sent commodity prices tumbling.

The Dow Jones closed down 155 points at 10271 with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 also losing around 2%.

16:20 - Bullish property investors were given a slice of hope today after UK property ace Derwent London (DLN) said it was seeing a recovery in the sector.

Derwent said the second half of the year has seen a rise in investment, particularly in the central London.

After two years spent focusing on riding out the storm, Derwent said it was ready to unveil new office space to the market by the end of 2011.

Despite difficult economic conditions, the company's letting successes in the third quarter generated an annual rental income of £1.3 million and Derwent boosted a vacancy rate of just 4%.

Despite the confident outlook, Derwent's shares fell 44p to 1,340p.

15:57 - Gold lost its shine on Thursday as a strengthening US dollar knocked interest in the commodities market.

Prices fell back to $1,135 an ounce, following yesterday's record high of $1,151.20 an ounce.

Investors also grew jittery on poor US economic data which showed a higher-than-expected rise in jobless claims last week.

15:31 - It was a game of two halves for upstream oil and gas company Premier Oil (PMO) which failed to hit its yearly production target, but said it was on track to meet its medium-term output levels.

The firm expects to average 43-45,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day this year - below its August forecast of 46,000 boepd.

Premier's output was knocked by the temporary loss of production at its Kakap field and additional maintenance downtime across its UK producing fields.

Shares in the FTSE 250 firm were slipped just shy of 1% to 1,161.5p.

15:06 - London's leading share index fell further in afternoon trading, as US data and ailing mining sector weighed on sentiment.

The FTSE 100 (UKX) was 62 points down at 5280, with mining trio Antofagasta (ANTO), Fresnillo (FRES) and Xstrata (XTA) leading the fallers.

14:41 - US markets tumbled at the start of trading on Wall Street today, with jobless benefits data broadly meeting expectations to maintain uncertainty over the state of the global economy.

The Dow Jones was down 92 points to 1034, with the Nasdaq slipping 31 points to 2162 and the S&P 500 down 14 points to 1095.

14:06 - Brewer Young & Co (YNGA) gave investors a boost today by announcing that it would increase its interim dividend for the 13th year in a row.

In a testament to its confident outlook, the dividend was raised 2% to 6.24p per share.

The news came as Young and Co reported a rise in profit, despite challenging trading conditions. Revenues rose 1.5%, while adjusted profit before tax was up 3.7%.

The brewery's shares were flat at 489p.

13:37 - Engineering firm Melrose (MRO) said today that trading was marginally ahead of forecasts, boosted by an upturn in its Asian markets.

Melrose added that its North American and European markets had also stabilised, with the firm commenting in its statement that "in addition to the recoveries in the early cycle businesses, we are seeing more stable markets leading to increased confidence".

The FTSE 250 firm also said that its moves to cut costs and generate greater cash left it confident the year would end on a positive note.

Shares in the firm were up 2% to 188.3p.

13:08 - Mining shares continued to weigh on London's top share index today, as metal prices - in particular copper - retreated.

The FTSE 100 (UKX) was down 34 points to 5308, with Antofagasta (ANTO) and Anglo American (AAL) heading the fallers' boards.

SABMiller (SAB) and Reckitt Benckiser (RB-) were still leading the way on the winners' board.

12:42 - The oil rally proved short-lived with prices sliding to $78.85 a barrel as a strengthening US dollar played on investors' minds.

The dollar gained against the euro on Thursday morning, ending yesterday's oil momentum which saw prices rise to over $80 a barrel, following a greater-than-expected drop in US crude inventories.

Inventories fell by 900,000 barrel last week, much higher than the 300,000 drop analysts had forecast.

London Brent was trading at $78.84 a barrel.

12:19 - Shoppers were starting to loosen their purse strings in October with retail sales growing at their fastest rate for 17 months, official figures showed today.

Last month saw a 0.4% rise on an upwardly revised September figure from the Office for National Statistics - slightly weaker than suggested by surveys from the Confederation of British Industry and the British Retail Consortium.

This puts sales volumes 3.4% ahead of the same month last year amid a stronger performance from clothing and footwear.

For more, read: Retail recovery hopes grow.

11:58 - Oil and gas player Faroe Petroleum (FPM) is looking to up its production rates after announcing on Thursday that the Topaz Gas Field has come on-stream.

The gas field, located in the UK Southern Gas Basin, is set to reach initial production rates of 30 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. Although production at the gas field has commenced, Faroe added that it was not yet operating at full choke.

AIM-listed Faroe, which focuses on the Atlantic margin, the North Sea and Norway, stands to net 375 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) through its 7.5% working interest in the gas field once the well is in full swing.

Shares in the firm were down almost 2% at 135.75p.

For the full story, read: Topaz comes on-steam to boost Faroe.

11:31 - AstraZeneca (AZN) has submitted a request to the US Food and Drug Administration for the approval of its blood clot prevention drug Brilinta.

European regulators received their request in October and, if the approvals are granted, Astra will pitch it in competition with Plavix which has annual sales of around $9 billion.

The drug helps to combat a range of heart diseases from angina to heart attacks by reducing the blood flow to the heart.

Its shares were up marginally to 2,720.25p.

11:08 - London's top share index continued to struggle in negative territory on Thursday, with miners remaining the biggest drag.

The FTSE 100 (UKX) was down eight points to 5334, paring back some of its earlier losses, but miners were still nursing the heaviest losses to dominate the fallers' board.

On the other side of the coin, drinks maker SABMiller (SAB) and household products giant Reckitt Benckiser (RB-) were leading the way - the latter boosted by reports of a potential merger with Colgate.

10:44 - Oil explorer Dana Petroleum (DNX) has ramped up output to 42,000 barrels of oil per day in the last three weeks, putting it firmly on track to hit its yearly production targets.

The FTSE 250 group said it expects to reach a 2009 level of around 39,000 barrels of oil per day (boepd) after pushing ahead with an ambitious exploration programme. Dana has averaged approximately 38,200 boepd so far this year.

In its interim statement, the company, whose focus lies primarily on the North Sea and Egypt, said it expects to drill a total of 18 exploration wells this year, and has completed drilling on four exploration prospects and two sidetrack wells in the six months to 19 November.

For the full story, read: Dana Petroleum ramps up production.

10:16 - JP Morgan is snapping up the other 50% of stockbroker Cazenove it does not already own.

The bank bought half of 190-year Cazenove five years ago and was expected to take up the option to complete the deal.

David Mayhew will remain chairman of JP Morgan Cazenove, while chief executive Naguib Kheraj "will oversee the integration", the company said.

09:57 - Car and bike parts retailer Halfords (HFD) benefited from the rising numbers of Brits opting for "staycations", the firm said today as it reported a 24% leap in pre-tax profit.

In the six months to end-September, Halfords' pre-tax profit climbed to £60.9 million, with revenue up almost 4% at £425.1 million.

It added that the second half of the year had started in line with expectations and the company is confident full-year profit will come in as forecast.

Chief executive David Wild commented: "While we remain cautious on the consumer outlook for 2010, our continued confidence in ongoing earnings growth has led the board to increase the interim dividend by 20% to 6p."

Shares in the FTSE 250 firm were down almost 3% to 419.85p.

09:35 - First-half profits at National Grid (NG-) leapt 16%, the firm reported today and it expects "a strong performance" in the remainder of the year.

Pre-tax profit rose from £558 million to £649 million in the six months to 30 September, while the group also managed to reduced its net debt to £693 million.

A further boon for investors came in the form of an 8% increase in interim dividend to 13.65p per share.

Shares in the firm were up almost 1% to 645.75p.

09:14 - Oil and gas producer BG Group (BG-) today announced "record productivity" from well tests at Iracemea appraisal well in the Tupi area of the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil.

BG and partners Petrobras - which owns 65% and operates the well - and GALP completed two drill stem tests which showed aggregate production of 10,500 barrels of oil per day and 17 million standard cubic feet per day of gas.

The well in-flow performance recorded was the highest achieved in the firm's Santos Basin interests to date, with chief executive Frank Chapman "delighted" with the results.

Its shares were up over 1% to 1,153.75p.

08:51 - London's top share index was marginally down in early trading, with an ailing mining sector weighing on stocks.

The FTSE 100 (UKX) was down 14 points to 5328, with miners dominating the fallers' board as metal prices slipped.

A large fundraising from banking heavyweight Mitsubishi UFJ and a stronger yen combined to drag Japan's benchmark index down to a four-month closing low. The Nikkei slumped 127 points to 9549, with banks and exporters leading the falls.

Elsewhere in Asia, profit-taking and a weak showing from Chinese banks hit the index in Hong Kong, as the Hang Seng fell 197 points to 22643.

US markets dipped marginally into the red on Wednesday, weighed down by an unexpected fall in the number of new houses under construction.

The renewed concern over the strength of a recovery saw the Dow Jones and Nasdaq both slip 11 points to 10426 and 2193 respectively, while the S&P 500 fell a solitary point to 1110.

Sales growth at supermarket chain Morrisons (MRW) fell short of expectations, as the firm reported a 4.3% rise in like-for-like sales for the third quarter.

Analysts had forecast a rise of 4.5% in like-for-like sales excluding fuel, but outgoing chief executive Marc Bolland remained upbeat: "Morrisons continues to grow ahead of the market driven by our award winning combination of outstanding quality, fresh food and great value."

In the third quarter, Morrisons saw the average weekly number of customers hit a record 10.8 million - with the group attributing the rise in part to the launch of its "Food Specialist for Everyone" strategy, with numbers rising 1.6 million in the two years since its inception.

Shares in the group were down almost 1% to 278.55p.

Brewing giant SABMiller (SAB) suffered a 1% fall in lager volumes in the first half of the year, it reported today, while revenues were also down as its major currencies weakened against the dollar.

Group revenue fell 6% to $13.36 billion in the six monhs to end-September and almost half that reported in March this year. Pre-tax profit was also down, slumping 26% to $1.5 billion.

However, SABMiller said its underlying performance remained strong, with market share growing and price increases helping organic group reevnue rise 3% at constant exchange rates.

The firm did announce that its interim dividend, paid on 11 December, will be one cent higher than last year at 17 cents per share.

Its shares were up almost 2% to 1,687.5p.

08:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) opens at 5342.

Markets: FTSE 100 down on miners

More Articles