LONDON (ShareCast) - London's blue chips slipped in the red as the afternoon session with mortgage banks and housebuilders slumping on another gloomy monthly house price survey from Nationwide.

House prices by 2.5% in May according to the building society, the worst fall since it started monitoring them. Banks HBOS and Barclays fell, but Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled the most as its share price gets ever nearer the 200p price of its £12bn rights issue.

Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt are all lower. Barratt also said it will appoint Bob Lawson as its new non executive chairman, succeeding Charles Toner who will be retiring. Lawson, who is currently chairman of recruitment firm Hays.

Tullow, BP, BG and Shell provided some offset, as oil prices rose again yesterday while miners Eurasian Natural Resources, Antofagasta and Kazakhmys are also in demand.

A strong improvement in net performance fee income drove full year profits growth at hedge fund manager Man Group. Pre-tax profit in the year to 31 March 2008 rose 60% $2,079m from $1,301m the year before. Analysts had pencilled in a pre-tax profit figure of to $1,946m.

Power firm Scottish & Southern Energywas lower despite saying full year adjusted pretax profit rise 13.9% to £1.23bn on revenue that rose to £15.2bn from £11.8bn previously.

Mining group Rio Tinto followed up yesterday’s update on its Indonesian resources with an evaluation of its mineral resources at La Granja, Peru.

Waste management firm Shanks said full year results reflected the strong trading in the majority of its businesses with the exception of Belgium, which suffered due to new legislative restrictions. Headline profit for the year rose 11% to £44.8m on revenue that also increased 11% to £564m.

Blacks Leisure, which owns Blacks and Millet, the chains selling gear to campers, skiers and other outdoor enthusiasts, reported profits before tax and exceptional items of £0.3m in the year ended 1 March compared with £0.1m last time.

Shares in surfwear specialist Hot Tuna shot ahead after it said total like-for-like sales for the 2008 spring, summer season increased nearly fourfold

Photographic retailer Jessops saw first half sales fall 24.7% and warned that it now expects to make a small loss for the year but added that margins have improved.

Set-top box maker Pace has signed a “significant” new contract for the US cable market to provide a low cost digital to analogue converter product. The deal prompted the board to forecast that results for the year will now materially exceed existing expectations.

• News Channel