Market report - Tuesday at close

By THIS IS MONEY
Updated:

 

London shares fell sharply today in thin trading with bouts of profit taking hitting a number of key sectors. The FTSE-100 Index ended down 91.7 points at 6392 - not far off its low for the session of 6384.9. Losses on Wall Street, especially among technology stocks, forced the blue chips to make their third consecutive fall.

Banks and other financials dragged the index down, with Standard Chartered off 23p to £10.38, NatWest down 63p to £12.73, Prudential down 9 1/2 p to 864p and Schroders off 51p to £14.01.

Publishing group Reed International saw a sharp jump in shares after announcing the appointment of a new chief executive in the form of Crispin Davis, the boss of media planning group Aegis. In busy trading, Reed reversed a previous sharp fall to jump 37p to 492 1/4 p. Aegis fell 6p to 140p.

SmithKline Beecham lost 23 1/2 p to fall to 790 1/2 p after a bout of profit taking prompted by the group revealing its second quarter figures.

Rival Glaxo Wellcome also fell, down 34p to £16.97 on a dull day for pharmaceuticals stocks.

Reuters, which reported better-than-expected half-year profits after a tough period, ended down 17p to 898 1/2 p after profit taking.

Troubled fine leather goods group Mulberry jumped 12 1/2 p to 51p - a gain of 12.5% - after unveiling a partnership deal with US home furnishings company Krabet.

Pressac, the electronics group, gained 25p to 252p after reporting strong orders for its division selling products to the telecoms industry.

Debenhams reported a 3.6% fall in recent comparable sales, leading analysts to trim their profit forecasts on the company. It fell 11 1/2 p to 391 1/2 p.

Ongoing gossip that fire protection products maker Williams would soon be receiving another offer from America's Tyco International pushed the group up 5 1/4 p to 359 1/4 p. The last set of talks recently broke down.

Allied Domecq jumped 17p to 519p after announcing it had agreed a £2.75 billion takeover of its pubs operation by Punch Taverns.

Meanwhile, telecoms group Telewest watched its shares continue to fall after yesterday's announcement that Cable & Wireless had entered exclusive talks with NTL about selling Cable & Wireless Communication's residential arm.

Telewest was down 15 3/4 p to 278p, while C&W was down 14p to 813p. Cable & Wireless Communications lost 25p to 700p.

Consumer products giant Unilever fell 16 1/2 p to 596p after the Competition Commission released a list of 'possible remedies' which may end the domination of its Birds Eye Wall's division in the UK cream market.

Textiles group Hicking Pentecost jumped after US-based Ruddick said it had increased its offer to 226p a share, beating Coats Viyella's 205p a share bid. Hicking gained 20p to 227 1/2 p amid hopes of a bidding battle, while Coats fell 1/4 p to 44 1/4 p.

Share risers on the Footsie were Reed International up 37p to 492 1/4 p, Compass Group up 21p to 652p, Allied Domecq up 17p to 592p and Invensys up 7 1/4 p to 334 1/2 p.

Fallers were Daily Mail & General Trust down 200p to £35.13, Telewest down 15 3/4 p to 278p and EMI 27 1/4 p down at 518p.

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