LONDON (ShareCast) - Battered commodity plays and a weak start on Wall Street prompted late selling over here, with the leading index closing 110 points off its best levels.

The US turned south as investors mulled weak housing data, yesterday’s government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and news that tax rebates and big spending will force America’s budget deficit up by $246bn this year to $407bn.

Tumbling metal prices lopped more than 9% off Kazakhmys and more than 8% off the value of Xstrata and Eurasian Natural Resources. Oil majors also suffered as US light crude fell below $104 a barrel.

Cairn Energy and big-hitters Shell and BP all dropped as did services providers John Wood Group and Petrofac. But fuel guzzlers British Airways, Easyjet and cruises giant Carnival benefited on prospects for lower fuel bills.

Hopes that the US initiative to bolster the home-loan market Stateside will feed through to the UK prompted demand for banks. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS clung onto gains, along with credit checking firm Experian.

That was a good show as the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said the average number of transactions per surveyor during the three months to August slumped to 12.7, the lowest level since the survey began in 1978.

Media firm ITV has appointed Ian Griffiths as group finance director from magazine publisher Emap. The shares reacted positively to the appointment opening up the small possibility that the shares could retain their FTSE 100 status ahead of the reshuffle to be determined at close of business today.

Housebuilder Redrow plunged into the red in the year to June as it wrote off £259m from the value of its landbank. The housebuilder posted a loss of £194m on sales of £650m, down from £834m. But news that it has renewed £450m on loan facilities has given the shares a boost.

Qinetiq fell as the UK government placed its remaining 18.9% stake in the hi-tech defence electronics group at 206p a share. The sale netted the MoD £257.3m.

Inflation will remain surprisingly high in the second half of the year, hitting companies such as Sainsbury, said JP Morgan as it lowered its rating on the supermarket operator from ‘neutral’ to ‘underweight’.

However JP Morgan sees currency developments as positive for Yell Group and has raised its price target on the directories group to 126p from 92.

KBC Peel Hunt has kept its ‘add’ stance on Tullow Oil after the company made another discovery in Uganda.

Dry cleaner Johnson Service's underlying interim profits tumbled to £0.5m with a loss of £7.5m after one-off costs. Revenue fell from £159m to £130m. Drycleaning is being affected by the difficult conditions on the high street but the second half should follow the usual pattern and be stronger than the first and overall Johnson expects the result for the current financial year to be "satisfactory".

Spread bet firm IG Group's revenue for the quarter to August rose by 29% to £53m compared from £41m a year ago. "Client recruitment levels in the financials business have continued to be strong in the quarter, albeit with the expected softening during the August holiday season in Europe,"

IT services and technology company Morse revealed a 9% decline in full year profit as it announces more board changes.

The Takeover Panel has given the consortium looking to buy publishing firm Informa until 26 September to make its intentions clear. Last week, Informa rejected a reduced 450p a share offer from Providence Equity, Carlyle and Blackstone.


FTSE 100 - Risers
ITV (ITV) 45.80p +4.09%
British Airways (BAY) 263.25p +4.05%
Carnival (CCL) 2,099.00p +4.01%
Barclays (BARC) 365.75p +3.03%
TUI Travel (TT.) 230.00p +3.02%
Prudential (PRU) 576.50p +2.95%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,825.00p +2.82%
Cable & Wireless (CW.) 175.70p +2.75%
Experian Group (EXPN) 443.00p +2.72%
British Land Co (BLND) 775.00p +2.72%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 904.50p -9.28%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 762.00p -8.69%
Xstrata (XTA) 2,358.00p -8.03%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,477.00p -7.78%
John Wood Group (WG.) 393.75p -7.62%
Amec (AMEC) 717.00p -7.36%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 265.00p -7.26%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 172.10p -7.22%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 494.75p -6.91%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,254.00p -5.97%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Carpetright (CPR) 722.00p +7.76%
easyJet (EZJ) 375.50p +7.67%
Cattles (CTT) 132.00p +5.60%
Quintain Estates & Development (QED) 216.50p +4.72%
Derwent London (DLN) 1,115.00p +4.69%
Unite Group (UTG) 248.00p +4.64%
Helical Bar (HLCL) 345.00p +4.15%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 345.00p +4.07%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 456.50p +3.99%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 493.50p +3.95%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 57.25p -14.55%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 1,920.00p -10.49%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 249.50p -10.25%
Aricom (ORE) 37.75p -9.58%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 384.00p -8.57%
Senior (SNR) 102.00p -8.31%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 1,064.00p -7.56%
Premier Oil (PMO) 993.00p -7.54%
Telecity Group (TCY) 252.50p -7.17%
Hunting (HTG) 811.50p -6.94%

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