LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s leading shares came off the bottom in late trading on much better than expected US jobs data, allowing the Footsie to stave off the prospect of a second successive triple digit fall.

By the close in London, Wall Street was trading lower, despite news that 166,000 jobs were added in October versus forecasts for around 80,000, but at least it was showing no indication of repeating yesterday’s collapse.

Over here, banks continued to take the flak following renewed concerns over the US credit crunch. Barclays was the worst affected on rumours that it has approached the Bank of England for funding assistance. Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HSBC also fell sharply.

Miners were also under the cosh, as investors expressed concern that any slowdown in the US economy would hit demand for commodities. However, the enduring strength of the oil price provided support for oil majors Tullow, BG Group and BP.

British Airways was unable to buck the trend despite unveiling first half profits up 26% to £593m, boosted by its business and first-class operations, which remained strong. Its fuel bill for the year is expected to top £2bn for the first time but it is sticking with its 10% operating margin target by March 2008, though revenue guidance this year has been revised down to around 3 to 3.5%.

BSkyB fell to earth after announcing a fall in operating profits. The satellite broadcaster added 83,000 net new customers to its TV service in the first quarter, which was slightly above expectations. Sales rose by 11% to £1.1bn. Operating profits fell from £183m to £150m reflecting heavy investment in its broadband arm.

Unilever advanced as brokers gave a warm reception to its figures yesterday. Its defensive properties also did not go unnoticed, as was the case also for tobacco stocks.

Away from the blue chips, Regent Inns' like-for-like sales in the 14 weeks to 6 October were down 1% on last year with Jongleurs venues enjoying marginally better performance than the Walkabout estate. Like-for-like food sales continued to perform strongly and were up 8.5% on last year while bars with outside smoking were up 2.1% on last year. Regent remained cautious in its outlook.

Contractor Alfred McAlpine has allowed Carillion access to its books to perform due diligence after reaching agreement over a proposed 585p per share offer from Carillion.

ACP Capital confirmed that it has had a bid approach for Davenham rejected. It is disappointed with the response and is concerned about the asset based lender’s increasing exposure to the UK property sector, its higher risk property finance products and about the availability and terms of any additional funding required to write new business during 2008 and beyond.

Speciality chemical and petrochemical outfit Haike Chemical shot up after revealing trading has been strong in the second half of the year, despite the challenging environment caused by increasing crude oil prices

Property group Metnor warned that its full year performance is expected to be significantly below current market expectations after the credit crisis has delayed a number of property deals.

United Business Media was wanted on news that the CEO of its technology unit is moving to head the division’s international acquisition and business development in India, China and Europe.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 645.00p +3.04%
British Energy Group (BGY) 543.50p +2.74%
ICAP (IAP) 603.50p +2.12%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 555.00p +2.02%
BG Group (BG.) 898.50p +1.99%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,729.00p +1.95%
BP (BP.) 627.00p +1.37%
Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) 2,780.00p +1.28%
Man Group (EMG) 576.00p +1.23%
BAE Systems (BA.) 500.00p +1.16%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Barclays (BARC) 535.00p -6.39%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 476.00p -4.56%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,057.00p -4.43%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 661.50p -4.13%
Kingfisher (KGF) 181.80p -4.11%
DSG International (DSGI) 120.80p -3.05%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 730.00p -2.93%
British Airways (BAY) 418.25p -2.73%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 517.00p -2.64%
International Power (IPR) 471.25p -2.63%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 990.00p +7.03%
QXL Ricardo (QXL) 1,381.00p +4.31%
eaga (EAGA) 196.00p +3.16%
Helphire Group (HHR) 435.00p +2.96%
Abbot Group (ABG) 351.75p +2.93%
United Business Media (UBM) 753.00p +2.87%
Debenhams (DEB) 112.00p +2.75%
Electrocomponents (ECM) 252.50p +2.64%
Alfred McAlpine (MCA) 565.00p +2.45%
Venture Production (VPC) 799.50p +2.37%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 280.00p -5.88%
St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 450.50p -5.36%
Beazley Group (BEZ) 161.75p -5.13%
New Star Asset Management Group (NSAM) 312.50p -5.09%
Henderson Group (HGI) 171.75p -4.85%
Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 1,502.00p -4.51%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 436.00p -4.28%
Minerva (MNR) 170.00p -4.09%
Talvivaara Mining (TALV) 287.75p -4.08%
Quintain Estates & Development (QED) 580.00p -3.65%

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