Headline shares ended the day modestly lower, with firm gains from oil producers failing to offset weakness in banking and financial services and the effects of the ex-dividend factor. At the close of business, the FTSE100 was down 16.91 points at 5,586.61 with the FTSE250 off 171.01 points at 10,299.04 and the FTSE Smallcaps 4.58 points lower at 2,949.18. US stocks were mixed in nervous late morning trade, investors cautious ahead of an interest-rate decision by the Federal Reserve. Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 51 points at 11,043, the S&P500 rose 4 points at 1,188 and the Nasdaq Composite eased 8 points at 2,463.
LONDON MARKETS
Trading in London was largely negative throughout, investors concerned following the downgrade of Greek bonds to junk status as well as downgrades for Portugal and Spain. A muted start in New York offered no support.
A busy day for company reports was headlined by oil major Royal Dutch Shell (LON:RDSA) up 47.5p at 1,969.5p after reporting a surge in first-quarter earnings as crude prices recovered. The stock was also lifted by an upgrade to add from reduce at Evolution Group (LON:EVG) with the target price raised to 2,100p from 1,750p. BP (LON:BP.) which reported results yesterday, rose 15p at 625p, and BG Group (LON:BG.) which reports tomorrow, jumped to the top of the leaderboard, up 42p at 1,110p, following news it has sold its 50% stake in Bristols Seabank power plant.
Early support for cigarette makers went up in smoke, with profit-taking and the wider negative sentiment pulling BAT 32.5p lower at 2,107.5p, despite reporting continued earnings growth despite a fall in volumes. Rival Imperial Tobacco Group (LON:IMT) slipped 8p at 1,945p, shrugging off an upgrade to hold from sell at UBS.
Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) made strong progress on announcing its new Tongon mine will open in October, up 175p at 5,330p, also helped as gold firmed at $1,168 an ounce, while fellow gold producer Fresnillo (LON:FRES) gained 3.5p at 806.5p. The rest of the mining sector was mired in red, with Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) the biggest loser among them, down 54p at 2,606p. Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) fell 61p at 3,546 and Xstrata Plc (LON:XTA) lost 10.5p at 1,128p, while Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) dropped 13p at 1,012p.
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