LONDON (ShareCast) - Triple digit losses on Wall Street ruined London’s hopes of finishing higher Monday, with chunky losses in the finance sector wasting gains among the miners.

HBOS remained the worst of the bunch ahead of Thursday’s results, with big write-downs predicted. Abbey, now in Spanish hands, is also reckoned to have toppled the Halifax-owner from its spot as the UK’s biggest mortgage lender.

Meanwhile, Citigroup cut the bank sector to 'underweight' from 'neutral' and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group’s forecast for a slide in full-year profit unsettled investors. That left Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB in the red.

In addition, Tesco has agreed to buy Royal Bank’s 50% stake in its Tesco Personal Finance (TPF) joint venture, set up in 1997, for £950m in cash. RBS expects to make a £500m profit on the deal.

A review of UK insurance companies by UBS had the sector on the run. It dropped Aviva to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’ and cut its price target to 530p from 620p. The Swiss broker expects most UK life firms to post losses in the first half due to weak asset markets. Friends Provident and Old Mutual were among the casualties.

British Airways hit turbulence after budget airline Ryanair saw first quarter net profits plunge 85%. It could report a loss of €60m if oil prices stay high and fares fall, it warned. Easyjet is the biggest mid-cap loser. Higher oil prices also weighed and sent cruise operator Carnival off course.

Better metal prices helped miners dominate the blue chip leader board. Chile-focused Antofagasta and Australia’s BHP Billiton enjoyed strong gains after copper prices rose again on signs that US demand may be recovering.

Pearson saw profits increase for the half year as sales across its divisions rose, including the FT Group, which continues to benefit from the shift to subscription and digital revenues from ad revenues. Pre-tax profit for the period increased to £55m from £35m in the same period last year on sales that increased 14% to £1.96bn.

Household products firm Reckitt Benckiser said net revenues rose 20% to £1,564m in the second quarter and is on track to achieve its net revenue growth target of 11-12% in the full year.

Meanwhile, Unilever was higher after it agreed to sell its North American laundry business to private equity firm Vestar Capital Partners.

Investors gobbled up shares in J Sainsbury today as the Qatar Investment Authority upped its stake in Britain's third largest supermarket group to 27.28%.

But JP Morgan has lowered its rating on Sage to ‘underweight’ from ‘neutral’ and cut its price target by 45p to 200p saying it expects the software company’s organic growth to decelerate in a difficult economic environment.

ING started coverage on Marks and Spencer with a ‘sell’ rating and a 200p target price, in expectation that the stock’s value will continue declining. The recent first quarter trading update laid bare structural problems in M&S’s food business and demonstrated the softness currently pervading the UK clothing market, ING said.

Defence firm BAE Systems bought business and technology consultant Detica for about £531m. The offer will be 440p per share in cash and represents a 57% premium to the closing price on 12 July, the last business day prior to Detica's announcement that it had received an approach.

Catering giant Compass said despite rising food costs, it had a strong third quarter, with profit margins and revenues, excluding acquisitions, in line with growth seen in the first half.

Meanwhile, amongst the mid-caps, publishing and events group Informa said takeover talks with a consortium are continuing as it posted a slide in half-year profits.

Pub group Marston’s reported a slight rise in turnover and said it expects full year results to be broadly in line with forecasts.

Home maintenance specialist Homeserve said first quarter trading results are ahead of last year and in line with expectations.

Ready meals group Northern Foods said first quarter sales rose by 3.5% while expectations for the full year remain unchanged.

Management and consultancy firm WSP Group saw half year pre-tax profits increase 43% and said it remains confident it will continue to perform in line with expectations.

SMC shares surged after the architect firm said revenue visibility for the remainder of 2008 and for 2009 remains high, with at least 90% and 40% confirmed respectively.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Antofagasta (ANTO) 540.00p +7.14%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,852.00p +4.99%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,363.00p +4.60%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 920.00p +4.55%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,622.00p +4.44%
Lonmin (LMI) 2,403.00p +3.09%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 5,100.00p +2.95%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,750.00p +2.88%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 747.50p +2.82%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,359.00p +2.72%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
HBOS (HBOS) 287.50p -7.33%
Rexam (REX) 352.00p -6.57%
Friends Provident (FP.) 81.90p -5.21%
Barclays (BARC) 338.75p -4.98%
British Airways (BAY) 234.50p -4.96%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 302.75p -4.72%
TUI Travel (TT.) 198.10p -4.65%
Old Mutual (OML) 94.70p -4.63%
Wolseley (WOS) 319.25p -4.49%
Carnival (CCL) 1,759.00p -4.45%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Detica Group (DCA) 437.00p +17.39%
Keller Group (KLR) 695.00p +7.25%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 105.50p +6.84%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 274.25p +5.48%
Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 569.00p +3.64%
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 289.50p +3.21%
Mothercare (MTC) 380.75p +3.18%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 2,465.00p +3.18%
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,263.00p +2.60%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 80.00p +2.56%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 239.50p -9.54%
Southern Cross Healthcare Group (SCHE) 110.50p -8.68%
Catlin Group (CGL) 322.00p -8.33%
Debenhams (DEB) 39.75p -8.09%
easyJet (EZJ) 308.75p -7.97%
Imperial Energy Corporation (IEC) 896.50p -7.77%
Brit Insurance Holding (BRE) 154.00p -7.65%
JPMorgan Russian Secs. (JRS) 601.00p -7.40%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 250.00p -7.24%
Hiscox (HSX) 195.75p -7.12%

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