LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s benchmark index tracked the performance of Wall Street and narrowed losses from the afternoon but still finished in the red as oil prices reached new highs.

Crude prices hit new intra-day high of $139.89 and are currently just a touch lower, sending airliner British Airways to the top of the fallers while cruise ship operator Carnival was also a major slider.

Barclays was one of the risers after it confirmed it is considering a placing and pre-emptive offer to existing shareholders. Weekend reports suggested it was in talks with sovereign wealth funds about raising £4bn. The bank added that profit before tax in May was well ahead of the monthly run rate for 2007.

Housebuilders also went well on a story that bankers at UBS have drawn up possible plans for a wide-ranging placing by major shareholders in leading companies in the sector including Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments. Persimmon is also up.

Eurasian Natural Resources topped the risers after higher price estimates for ferrochrome and iron ore pellets prompted ABN Amro to upgrade its rating on the Kazakh miner to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and increase its price target to 1,650p from 1,300p. Other miners Anglo American, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta also gained.

However, negative broker coverage also influenced food companies Unilever and Cadbury. They are lower after UBS downgraded its recommendations on the groups to ‘sell’ from ‘neutral’ as part of a European food sector review.

Fading bid hopes have also hit SABMiller following InBev’s move on Anheuser-Busch and comments from the Belgian brewer that suggest it is determined to take over the Bud brewer.

Merrill Lynch has cut its price target on Marston’s to 240p from 266p, saying it expects to see higher food and energy costs hitting the pub group. The broker has reduced its 2008 pre-tax profit forecasts for the Pitcher and Piano owner by 3.6% to £89.8m and for 2009 to £90.9m.

BlueBay Asset Management has slumped on a warning that performance fees for the year are likely to be lower than expected, leading to weaker than forecast pre-tax profit for the period to 30 June 2008.

Wine retailer Majestic Wine says like for like UK sales were up 0.8% in the first ten weeks to 9 June 2008. Since April, sales have been significantly stronger with like for like UK sales up 4.4% for the six weeks ending 9 June 2008, it added.

Sofa retailer Land of Leather is in the process of finalising an underwritten equity fundraising, which it expects to announce during the course of this week. Furniture chain ScS Upholstery, meanwhile, said it is in talks with a number of external parties to raise additional working capital after an insurer stopped providing cover to help pay suppliers early.

Lombard Medical rallied after it said there is no reason for the recent share price decline.

Struggling drug developer SkyePharma rallied as the US authorities gave approval to GlaxoSmithKline's once-a -day Parkinson's treatment Requip XL, which uses Skyepharma's technology.

Shares in Aero Inventory rallied after the aircraft spares supplier confirmed that it has recently received a ‘highly preliminary’ proposal from a third party.

Shopping-at-work firm Premier Direct has called in administrators after it failed to find a solution to its financial problems.

Fund manager Absolute Capital Management said shareholders have approved the demerger of Argo business and announced the appointment of a new chief executive.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,400.00p +5.98%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,330.00p +4.42%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,613.00p +4.06%
Barclays (BARC) 330.50p +3.93%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 225.75p +3.08%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 650.00p +3.01%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,126.00p +2.46%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 897.50p +1.99%
Persimmon (PSN) 419.25p +1.88%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 335.25p +1.82%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
British Airways (BAY) 239.50p -4.39%
SABMiller (SAB) 1,162.00p -3.81%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,526.00p -2.99%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 431.75p -2.70%
Cadbury (CBRY) 634.50p -2.68%
Standard Life (SL.) 236.00p -2.68%
ITV (ITV) 56.00p -2.61%
Carnival (CCL) 1,786.00p -2.51%
Compass Group (CPG) 360.25p -2.44%
Diageo (DGE) 952.00p -2.21%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 97.00p +12.14%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 76.00p +7.80%
Aga Rangemaster Group (AGA) 222.00p +5.71%
Yell Group (YELL) 101.75p +5.44%
Aricom (ORE) 90.00p +5.26%
Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 774.00p +5.09%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 261.50p +5.02%
Redrow (RDW) 171.75p +4.89%
Bellway (BWY) 536.00p +4.69%
Savills (SVS) 264.75p +4.44%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 284.25p -13.86%
Soco International (SIA) 1,860.00p -7.05%
DSG International (DSGI) 51.00p -5.56%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 136.50p -5.37%
F&C Commercial Property Trust (FCPT) 85.25p -5.28%
Drax Group (DRX) 758.00p -3.50%
Genus (GNS) 845.00p -3.43%
Amlin (AML) 276.00p -3.41%
Marshalls (MSLH) 175.25p -3.31%
PayPoint (PAY) 595.00p -3.25%

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