Market overview: Footsie ends down
Friday 09 Jan 2009

1630: Close Footsie's afternoon gains, inspired by expectations that Wall Street would start well, quickly evaporated after US stocks veered into the red following poor unemployment figures. The London’s benchmark index tracked losses on Wall Street after a US government report showed America’s jobs market had its worst year since the end of the Second World War in 2008. Anglo American led the large cap fallers. Merrill Lynch cut the miner to ‘underperform’ from ‘buy’ and slashed its target price to 1,300p from 2,050p. The broker fears that underperformance from Anglo may result in a dividend cut. Miners Xstrata, Vedanta Resources and Antofagasta also slipped. FTSE 100 fell 56 points to 4448

1450: Footsie staged a rally on hopes that the Wall Street would start well, but turned down again as US stocks fell. Anglo American leads the index lower following some adverse broker coverage. Merrill Lynch cut Anglo to ‘underperform’ from ‘buy’ and slashed its target price to 1,300p from 2,050p. Broker coverage also knocks BSkyB, which is down after Goldman Sachs cut the satellite TV group to 'sell' from 'neutral'. Banks are going well though, led by HBOS and RBS. FTSE 100 down 1 at 4,503.

1325: Footsie remains just in the red with Anglo American leading the index lower following some adverse broker coverage. Merrill Lynch cut Anglo to ‘underperform’ from ‘buy’ and slashed its target price to 1,300p from 2,050p. Broker coverage also knocks BSkyB, which is down after Goldman Sachs cut the satellite TV group to 'sell' from 'neutral'. FTSE 100 down 14 at 4,490.