LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s top stocks have started lower following sharp declines in the US and Asia.
Banks are lower with Alliance & Leicester, HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB all among the top fallers.
Sage has declined after the software group said that trading for the first half of the year was in line with expectations.
Among the FTSE 250, shares in Enodis rallied on news that US firm Manitowoc has agreed to buy the food equipment manufacturer for around £945m.
Bradford & Bingley is the biggest faller after the mortgage lender has been forced to deny weekend reports that it is planning an emergency rights issue.
Mitchells & Butlers confirmed it is interested in buying Punch group’s managed-pubs business Spirit and added that private equity firmswere looking to buy a minority stake in the group.
Dissident shareholders have succeeded in ousting First Calgary Petroleum’s chief executive Richard Anderson.
Titan International is in preliminary talks with Titan Europe to buy the entire share capital of the tyre maker which it does not already own.
Consumer electronics group Armour steered in a 9% pre-tax profit rise, as demand for its new products and its home and in-car music systems increased.
US-based children's entertainment group DIC Entertainment posted an annual pre-tax loss as it took non-cash write-downs and settled legal action.
Renewable energy producer Econergy confirmed today that it is looking to “sell or merge” the group to maximase the value of its assets.
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