Market report: Wednesday close

13 April 2012

NERVOUSNESS ahead of the Bank of England's interest rates decision pushed the FTSE 100 Index back into negative territory today.

Although the Footsie was less than a point away from the key 4500 barrier at lunchtime, it closed the session 4.1 points down at 4468.7.

A negative performance in New York added to the lacklustre trading and analysts said the escalating hostilities in Iraq had left traders in a cautious mood.

Some of the London market's better-known names did their best to stop the top flight's slide into negative territory, with GlaxoSmithKline up 29p to 1124p, Hilton 5 1/4p stronger at 237 1/4p and Boots 17p higher at 641 1/2p.

Telecoms companies also featured among the risers, with mmO2 lifting a penny to 102 1/2p and Cable & Wireless up 0 1/2p to 128 1/2p. Vodafone remained unchanged at 131p.

However, financial stocks took a turn for the worst, despite a positive performance earlier in the session. Lloyds TSB fell 9 1/2p to 414p, while HBOS was 9p down at 727p and Barclays slipped 6p to 478p.

Outside the Footsie, low-cost airline easyJet rose 5 1/2p to 307 3/4p after unveiling a 16.6% rise in passenger numbers for March.

Shares in Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel accelerated nearly 5% as rebel shareholders claimed victory in the battle to overthrow the beleaguered group's management. Shares were up 1 3/4p to 38 3/4p.

And the release of a favourable report into the UK Gaming Bill propelled shares in leisure groups higher. Rank Group added 10 1/4p to 335 1/4p, London Clubs International advanced 4 1/4p to 120 1/2p and Stanley Leisure was 9 3/4p up at 489p.

But the appointment of a new chief executive failed to help Austin Reed's share price, which fell 2p to 142 1/2p after a 84% drop in annual profits.

Department stores group James Beattie was also in negative territory after saying it was reviewing all aspects of its business following a 23% fall in annual profits. Shares were down 1 1/2p to 130p.

Meanwhile hand dryers-to-office pot plants group PHS saw its shares fall more than 2% despite saying it expected full year operating profits to be 21% higher than last year.

The Caerphilly-based company dipped 2p to 82 3/4p after it said trading had been in line with the management's expectations, with profits at its water cooler division set to be 'substantially' ahead.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in