LONDON (ShareCast) - Sellers began to appear in London following today’s tumble in China and further losses at drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, sending the leading index lower.

Stocks had shrugged off worries in the Far East about the recent hike in stock trading tax, but that optimism couldn’t keep blue chips out of the red for long.

Negative comments in the press and recent concerns about its diabetes drug Avandia continue to plague drug major Glaxo, dropping its shares to their lowest in two years.

Imperial Tobacco is weaker on talk it may up its €47 offer for Spain’s Altadis to €52, while miners were mostly lower, with Xstrata, Kazakhmys and Rio Tinto losing out.

Anglo American, which papers suggested will be approached by French firm Lafarge to sell its Tarmac division, was also down.

Real estate giant lost some of its recent gains inspired by hopes of a bid from British Land, but Segro jumped on news it will sell its life sciences real estate business in the US, Slough Estates USA, to Health Care Property Investors for £1.5bn.

After the deduction of tax and various other costs, the net cash proceeds receivable will be approximately £574m, of which £250m will be returned to shareholders via a special dividend. The remainder will be used to reduce debt.

Royal Bank of Scotland has improved on newspaper rumours suggesting it has put Southern Water up for sale for about £4bn.

Leisure group Whitbread has conditionally agreed to sell its David Lloyd Leisure business to London & Regional Holdings Limited and Bank of Scotland Corporate for £925m.

Elsewhere, project management firm AMEC said it has sold its Property Developments and Building and Civil Engineering units to Morgan Sindall.

Morgan will pay a £55m premium to aggregate net assets as at 30 April 2007, resulting in an expected total net cash consideration of around £26m, said AMEC in a company statement.

Oil and gas group Soco International hit a new record best after reporting oil and gas shows at the Te Giac Den well in Vietnam.

Electronic components manufacturer Acal said annual pre-tax profit rose 14% as demand for its electronics and IT solutions products increased. Pre-tax profit from ongoing activities rose to £9.8m in the year ended 31 March, while sales for the year increased 1.5% to £260.9m.

Flooring and fabric specialist Low & Bonar said first half trading is in line with company expectations as it continues to grow from acquisitions.

Italian firm AutoGrill said it would launch a mandatory offer to buy the remaining shares in Alpha Airports after increasing its stake in the airport retailer and flight caterer to 42.7%.

Timber distribution firm James Latham said trading for the year to 31st March 2007 is ahead of market expectations.

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