LONDON (ShareCast) - Footsie's attempt at a really fizzled out as soon as Wall St opened, leaving the London index deep in the red by the close.

Consumer groups lead the decline as interest rates were kept at 5% after the Bank of England decided the threat of recession is currently too great to start tackling soaring inflation with higher borrowing costs.

Thomas Cook and Cadbury were the biggest fallers. Cadbury suffered from a Merrill Lynch downgrade to 'underperform' from 'neutral' and cut its price target to 575p from 650p. Merrills also cut its target prices for Unilever and Reckitt Benckiser.

Kingfisher was the worst performer in a weak retailing sector after Goldman Sachs placed the DIY outfit on its conviction sell list.

Debenhams, Next and Carphone Warehouse also posted big losses, alongside sportswear retailer Sports Direct after it reported a 51.1% fall in full year profit and said it does not expect to see much growth this year as it battles against a decline in consumer spending.

Foods group and Primark owner Associated British Foods fell despite posting a 24% jump in third quarter revenues as it said like-for-like sales at its discount fashion chain Primark was held back by weak trading in April. Reduced profit expectations in its sugar business had a knock-on effect on fellow sugar producer Tate & Lyle.

On the bright side, credit checking firm Experian was wanted after reporting a 1% rise in first quarter organic revenue, despite market expectations of a decline.

Hedge fund manager Man Group was also on the up after it said funds under management (FUM) rose to $79.5bn at 30 June 2008 from $74.6bn at 31 March 2008.

Mining stocks also provided some relief from the sea of red on the Footsie leaderboard. Antofagasta was boosted by Citigroup upgrading the stock from “hold” to “buy”.

Rio Tinto is barely changed after announcing the $495m sale of the Kintyre uranium project in Western Australia.

Ferrochrome producer International Ferro Metals shined after it produced record levels of ferrochrome in the second quarter of 2008 as demand for the essential ingredient in stainless steel remains strong.

Homebuilder Barratt Developments rallied after a trading update this morning. The company expects to take an £85m write-down hit in its full-year results but is on the verge of signing new banking arrangements.

Traders also suggested vulture funds are now the circling housebuilders, attracted by knock down prices in some of the tradeable debt of the companies in the sector. Taylor Wimpey and Bellway also rose strongly.

German firm GfK clarified today that there was no certainty it will make an offer for market research group Taylor Nelson (TNS).

Strong international growth compensated for a slowdown in the UK market in the final quarter of recruitment firm Hays’s financial year.

Digital photography firm Photo-Me International reported a full year loss after it was hit by £19.8m of strategic and restructuring costs.

Computer aided design specialist Aveva said it is currently trading in line with expectations after a good start to the financial year.

Shares in oil explorer Soco dropped sharply as it encountered more problems drilling at the Te Giac Den ("TGD-1X-ST1") discovery well on Prospect "E", offshore Vietnam.

F&C Asset Management was down nearly a quarter today as traders speculated that the firm’s second largest shareholder was dumping a large chunk of its stake. Dawnay Day, an investment firm that owns over 26% of F&C in derivatives and shares, was said to be the seller.

nCipher confirmed that it is in late stage discussions with a third party which could lead to an offer being made for the encryption software specialist.The group expects the offer to be at a value of 300p per share.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian Group (EXPN) 389.75p +7.89%
FirstGroup (FGP) 560.50p +3.60%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,007.00p +2.87%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 240.25p +2.67%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,047.00p +1.95%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 183.60p -9.22%
Cadbury (CBRY) 598.50p -7.50%
ICAP (IAP) 428.00p -7.46%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 637.00p -7.14%
ITV (ITV) 40.10p -6.74%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 67.00p +24.07%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 35.00p +15.70%
Bellway (BWY) 461.75p +6.21%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 96.75p +5.16%
Kesa Electricals (KESA) 147.75p +5.16%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 97.50p -28.18%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 63.50p -11.50%
Soco International (SIA) 1,546.00p -9.17%
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,381.00p -8.66%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 403.00p -6.17%

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