Market Report - Friday close

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

Technology stocks suffered a bloodbath today as London dealers rushed to sell after another dreadful start for Wall Street.

Worrying economic data pointing to strong US inflation sparked a major slide on both the Dow Jones industrial average and the technology-rich Nasdaq.

The acceleration in consumer prices adds pressure on US central bankers to hike rates up by as much as 0.5%.

The FTSE-100 Index fell first through 6,300, then through 6,200. Dealers said 6,000 would be the next psychological watershed.

After bottoming out with a 207-point deficit, the Footsie ended a harrowing week 178.9 points off on the day at 6178.1.

That marked a 392 point slide on the week - equivalent to 6% or £90 billion off the leading index.

Technology stocks saw the percentage falls more commonly seen in penny shares, with Footsie companies like Psion and Baltimore Technologies both nearly losing a quarter of their value. Psion closed down 768p at £26.30 and Baltimore was £17.27 off at £53.44.

Other losers were Kingston Communications, down 83p at 686p, Logica down 150p at £16.16 and Freeserve 26 1/2 p lighter at 373p.

Vodafone AirTouch, which makes up some 14% of the Footsie, was responsible for much of the index's tumble, falling 23 1/4 p to 300 1/4 p.

The group was knocked off its perch as the leader in the auction for licence B of the next-generation mobile phone contracts. BT trumped its arch rival's £5.125bn offer with a £5.25bn tilt. But the group only fell 8p to £11.25, still being protected from the market's undertow by Thursday's well-received restructuring proposals.

High profile Internet company lastminute.com hit another new low, falling 12 1/2 p to 157 1/2 p.

Hyder, the Welsh utilities group, was the talk of the town on reports that it was negotiating a possible takeover by dealmeister Guy Hands' Nomura Principal Finance Group.

The troubled water company confirmed it was in discussions with an unnamed suitor. But it added that any deal would be at little premium to the previous session's share price. Hyder fell 30p to 235p.

Elsewhere, shares in Hornby steamed ahead 20% as the group announced it was considering striking a merger deal.

Shares jumped 28 1/2 p to 172 1/2 p as investors hoped bidders may be lurking in the sidings.

Still on the railways, Railtrack leapt 23 1/2 p to 845p after rail regulator Tom Winsor said he would use carrots as well as sticks in its drive to improve punctuality.

Food group James Crean jumped 2 1/2 p to 21 1/2 p after reporting it had trimmed its full-year losses from £30.9m to £1.9m.

Reports that shooting of the Harry Potter movie was running late took an edge off copyright holder Bloomsbury's shares. The company slipped 2 1/2 p to 725p.

Biggest share risers on the Footsie were Reckitt Benckiser up 38p at 660 3/4 p, BG Group up 16p to 389p, Invensys up 12 1/4 p to 304 1/4 p and Compass Group, up 34p to 865p.

Fallers were Baltimore, down £17.27 to £53.44, Psion, down 768p at £26.30, Kingston Communications, down 83p at 686p and Emap, 115p off at £10.01.

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