END-OF-DAY REPORT: Headline shares recorded firm broad-based losses by the close of business, although they were off lows, investors cautious as the inter-party political wrangling continues in London. At the close of business, the FTSE100 was down 53.21 points at 5,334.21 with the FTSE250 off 27.89 points at 9,976.86 and the FTSE Smallcaps 25.8 points lower at 2,860.05. US stocks were turned mixed in late morning trade, recovering from a poor start, as investors re-assessed the mood in Europe and on news of rising US wholesale inventories. Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 3 points at 10,783, the S&P500 was flat at 1,160 and the Nasdaq Composite added 6 points at 2,380.
LONDON MARKETS
The euphoria of the previous session quickly dissipated today as European debt concerns resurfaced and China demand worries hit metals prices. With no immediate prospect of a party coalition being announced in London, investors were understandably cautious, shrugging aside much-better-than-expected UK manufacturing data.
Financial and commodity issues bore the brunt of the dip in sentiment, with Xstrata Plc (LON:XTA) amongst the biggest blue chip fallers, down 42p at 1,050p, as it added to the list of companies mothballing expansion plans in the wake of the Australian supertax threat. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) fell 72p at 3,295.5p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) lost 34.5p at 1,948.5p. Kazakhmys (LON:KAZ) took the dubious accolade of being the day's worst performer, down 55p at 1,270p
On the upside with mining stocks, Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) topped the leaderboard, surging 290p at 5,870p as gold jumped to $1,218 an ounce.
Royal Bank Of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS)> was the worst of the banks, down 1.75p at 50p, hit by news it has agreed to pay $500m to settle conspiracy charges in the US.
Barclays (LON:BARC)> gave back 4.2p at 325.4p, Lloyds eased 0.7p at 60.3p and HSBC fell 10.2p at 661.4p.
Amongst insurers, Aviva (LON:AV.) moved 5.4p lower at 333.6p, despite reporting a second successive quarter of life and pensions sales growth. Prudential (LON:PRU) slipped 13p at 541p on ongoing concerns over its Asia expansion plans.
Fund managers were also weaker as worries over EU legislation refused to go away, with Schroders (LON:SDR) falling 7p at 1,400p and Man Group (LON:EMG) down 6.4p at 221.8p.
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