LONDON (ShareCast) - Footsie narrowed earlier losses but still finished deep in the red despite banks and miners refusing to conform to the selling trend.

Bradford & Bingley shot up after it turned down an offer from Resolution last night to replace the cash injection agreed from US group TPG. HBOS rose, with at least one hedge fund disclosing a short position yesterday, while Barclays, Lloyds TSB and RBS all posted strong gains.

Among miners Antofagasta got a lift from an upgrade to “outperform” from “neutral” by Credit Suisse. Miners were also given a boost after Rio Tinto won a price increase for delivering iron ore to China on Monday. Ferrexpo was the biggest riser.

Media and advertising firm WPP slid in the afternoon after it said slower growth in Western Continental European markets continued in the second quarter.

Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns were down heavily with traders saying companies with large debts are under intense scrutiny. Punch released a statement after the close saying its balance sheet remains strong and expects to meet the market’s full year expectation.

Elsewhere, Goldman Sachs upgraded pharmaceutical group Shire to “buy” while SG Securities notched up its rating on catering company Compass.

Property company Liberty International suffered after Citigroup downgraded the stock to “sell” from “hold”. The US banking group is generally bearish on the property sector overall.

Travel group Thomas Cook has given travel groups a boost with its reduced first half losses and comments that it remains confident of meeting expectations for the current year with trading for summer 08 strong in all major markets. TUI Travel rises in sympathy.

BG Group launched a hostile $13.1bn bid for Australia's Origin Energy. The all-cash bid values Origin at A$15.50 a share and was rejected by Origin's board last month. Origin values its coal seam gas reserves alone at over $15bn.

Debenhams gained after it brought its trading statement forward to quash rumours of financial difficulties. Like-for-like sales have grown by 1.0% in the past ten weeks. No changes have been made to supplier terms outside the ordinary course of business, it added.

Hotel group Millennium & Copthorne agreed to dispose CDL Hotels in Korea to Kango AMC for £232.6m.

Electricals retailer Kesa is not so cheery. The Comet owner saw underlying profits rise slightly to £128.8m from £126.5m in the year to April on revenues up from £3.96bn to £4.51bn. Broker Panmure Gordon responded to the results by downgrading the stock to “sell” from “neutral”. DSG International follows its sector peer lower.

More bad news for housebuilders came in the form of figures from the British Bankers’ Association which revealed mortgage approvals by its members in May fell to 27,968 from 34,752 in April. Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments are the big losers in the sector.

Local newspaper publisher Johnston Press received valid acceptances in respect of 311,058,684 new Johnston Press ordinary shares, representing approximately 97.25% of the total.

Plant hire group Ashtead and consultant RPS went well after strong results this morning while Bunzl said trading is in line with expectations and revenue growth similar to 2007.

Russia-focused oil producer Imperial Energy is wanted after it said it remains on track to deliver its target of 25,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) by end of 2008.

Shares in Pure Wafer collapsed after the silicon wafer reclaim specialist said it expects to breach its banking covenants for the period to 30th June 2008.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 416.75p +4.19%
Barclays (BARC) 310.75p +3.67%
John Wood Group (WG.) 478.75p +3.35%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 241.50p +3.09%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 219.25p +2.21%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 325.75p +2.20%
Admiral Group (ADM) 828.50p +1.72%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 656.00p +1.71%
HBOS (HBOS) 274.75p +1.67%
Man Group (EMG) 621.50p +1.55%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,412.00p -4.79%
Wolseley (WOS) 410.25p -4.70%
WPP Group (WPP) 498.25p -4.18%
Amec (AMEC) 901.50p -4.10%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 834.50p -3.97%
Next (NXT) 959.50p -3.57%
Tesco (TSCO) 365.10p -3.41%
Carphone Warehouse Group (CPW) 199.10p -3.35%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 314.75p -3.23%
Liberty International (LII) 854.00p -3.06%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 77.25p +17.05%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 346.50p +12.14%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 315.50p +7.13%
Debenhams (DEB) 44.75p +5.92%
888 Holdings (888) 153.50p +5.50%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 278.50p +5.09%
Rank Group (RNK) 82.75p +5.08%
Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 200.75p +4.56%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 254.75p +4.51%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 473.75p +3.72%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 186.00p -13.89%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 57.25p -11.58%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 74.75p -10.75%
DSG International (DSGI) 42.00p -9.68%
Kesa Electricals (KESA) 157.75p -9.60%
Quintain Estates & Development (QED) 206.25p -9.24%
Yell Group (YELL) 74.50p -8.02%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 129.25p -7.18%
Kier Group (KIE) 921.50p -7.11%
Forth Ports (FPT) 1,671.00p -7.06%

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