LONDON (ShareCast) - The leading index stage an impressive comeback late on, slashing losses as Wall Street started well and tumbling oil prices boosted travel companies.

London had fallen as low as 5,071 early afternoon, near levels last seen on the day of the 7/7 terrorist bombings, due to fears about the banking system and global economy, but fought back later on.

Oil prices slumped by almost $7 in New York following a surprise increase in US crude supplies. Travel operators Thomas Cook and TUI Travel both rallied as did fuel hungry British Airways and cruises giant Carnival.

Car insurer Admiral claimed top spot though as UBS reiterated its "buy" recommendation after it said the AA released some positive data on U.K. motor insurance premium rates.

Weaker crude prices hammered Tullow Oil, BP, Shell and BG, while miners dominated the fallers through to the end, with Xstrata, Antofagasta and Rio Tinto worst of the lot.

Battered banks staggered lower again, but better-than-expected second quarter results from Wells Fargo and a 10% dividend hike boosted sentiment later.

Royal Bank of Scotland fell some 50p below its recent rights issue offer price, while HBOS shares were nearly 40p below water in respect of their current rights issue offering. Barclays and Lloyds TSB were lowered to ‘underweight’ at HSBC with price targets cut amid further credit crunch worries.

Its target on HBOS, on which it used to have an ‘overweight’ rating to 840p from 1,250p. Barclays, which it used to rate as ‘neutral’, sees its target price fall to 580p from 700p.

Builders merchant Wolseley set the tone early with a grim trading update. It saw trading profit for the last 11 months fall 28% as it scrapped its final dividend and cut more jobs to contend with the deteriorating market conditions. It warned worse was to come.

Land Securities beat a retreat after it said progress in the first quarter has been at a slower rate and added that it is currently assessing proposals for its Trillium business. British Land and Hammerson were also lower.

On the upside, International Power was among the main gainers after higher power prices and tightening global supplies prompted JP Morgan to start coverage on the power station operator with an ‘overweight’ rating and a 540p price target.

Inter-dealer broker ICAP is thriving in the current volatile financial markets. Group revenue, excluding the recent Link acquisition, rose 15% in the second quarter of 2008, with the growth in electronic broking especially strong, particularly in foreign exchange.

Cobham, the aerospace and defence firm, edges higher after completing negotiations on a US Navy contract to supply transmitters.

Pub owner JD Wetherspoon has performed better than expected for the 11 weeks to 13th July 2008 with like-for-like sales up by 0.4%. In the year-to-date (50 weeks to 13th July 2008), like-for-like sales decreased by 1.0% and overall company sales increased by 2.2%. Expectations for the financial year are unaltered, it added.

Precious metal miner Hochschild Mining scrubs up well after saying it is on track to achieve its silver and gold production targets for 2008.

Morgan Stanley has cut its target prices on William Hill to 485p from 585p and on Ladbrokes to 325p from 365p to reflect its more conservative assumptions for the bookmakers.

Buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon says it continued to operate profitably and in line with management's expectations from 1 April to 30 June 2008. The number of accounts in arrears has reduced since March, with the percentage of accounts in arrears remaining at similar levels. The charge for impairment remains consistent with that for the first six months and is in line with expectations.

Funds continue to roll in at fixed income fund manager BlueBay despite difficult market conditions. At the end of June BlueBay’s assets under management stood at $21bn, up from $18.7bn at the end of March. The company saw a net inflow of funds of $2.7bn during the second quarter, which more than offset market depreciation of $0.4bn.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Admiral Group (ADM) 783.00p +10.83%
ICAP (IAP) 454.50p +8.80%
British Airways (BAY) 225.25p +6.88%
TUI Travel (TT.) 188.60p +6.80%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 123.70p +6.18%
Next (NXT) 921.50p +6.16%
Schroders (SDR) 871.50p +5.76%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 783.50p +5.10%
WPP Group (WPP) 447.00p +4.99%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 188.40p +4.96%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Wolseley (WOS) 272.25p -6.20%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,538.00p -4.89%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 522.50p -4.48%
Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 635.00p -4.44%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 788.00p -3.96%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,025.00p -3.74%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,773.00p -3.59%
BG Group (BG.) 1,050.00p -3.58%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,122.00p -3.53%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,609.00p -3.25%

FTSE 250 - Risers
BlueBay Asset Management (BBAY) 219.00p +15.11%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 60.50p +10.50%
JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 193.00p +10.44%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 219.25p +9.90%
GKN (GKN) 201.75p +9.80%
Investec (INVP) 305.00p +9.42%
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 189.75p +8.12%
Halfords Group (HFD) 257.50p +7.85%
Greene King (GNK) 447.25p +7.77%
Misys (MSY) 145.75p +7.17%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 60.00p -9.43%
Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 729.50p -7.66%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 186.00p -7.58%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 285.00p -6.86%
Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,600.00p -4.93%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 132.00p -4.35%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 990.00p -4.26%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 670.00p -3.94%
Gem Diamonds (GEMD) 995.00p -3.86%
Quintain Estates & Development (QED) 134.25p -3.76%

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