London afternoon: US sentiment data disappoints

14th Aug 2009 15:30

London's stockmarket overcame a technical glitch Friday afternoon only for equities to turn lower following a surprise plunge in US consumer confidence.Wall Street tumbled three figures shortly after the University of Michigan said its consumer sentiment index for August fell to 63.2 rather than the rise to 69 predicted by analysts.Over here, a spokesperson for FTSE said a disruption to the real time index values had been resolved.Properties, miners and housebuilders were the sectors continue to make the running, but it looks like London's blue-chip index won't make it three days of rises in a row.Reports this morning suggested a consortium of some of the world's richest families is plotting a bid for British Land. Liberty International, Hammerson and Land Securities are also well ahead in sympathy.Miners are in demand, although gains have been trimmed, on expectations of an increase in demand for minerals after the US Federal Reserve suggested earlier this week that economic activity has stopped declining and is levelling out.Kazakhmys, Fresnillo and Vedanta Resources advanced.Taylor Wimpey is wanted after RBS upgraded the stock to "buy" from "hold". Sector peers such as Bellway, Persimmon and Barratt Developments join Taylor Wimpey on the climb. Moving to company updates, fund manager Man Group expects gross initial disposal proceeds of $112m, which it expects to receive early next week, from the disposal of its remaining stake in MF Global.Payment services group Paypoint said its trading performance since the end of March has been satisfactory. The company said that, as anticipated, mobile top-up volumes in the UK, Romania and Ireland are running at lower levels than last year as a result of mobile operators offering more airtime for lower prices.Industrial chain maker Renold said the sharp declines in sales it has seen recently appear to have stabilised and that customers destocking may be abating. The firm, which reported a 25% slump in first quarter sales, said it saw no indication of customers restocking in the short-term. Operations management software group EG Solutions expects results for the half year to be in line with expectations, including a return to profitability. Revenues are seen at approximately £2.1m (H1 2008: £2.3m), while profits are seen at around £0.05m compared to a loss of £0.8m in the second half of last year.Industrial auctioneer GoIndustry-DoveBid said it knows of no reason why its share price jumped 40% yesterday, while confirming it is considering a placing at a 'considerable' discount' to the current share price.Music publisher Chrysalis has seen an 'extraordinary surge' in sales of Michael Jackson material since the singer's shock death in June. Chrysalis, which publishes a number of Jackson's best known hit songs including 'Thriller', 'Rock With You' and 'Off The Wall' through writer Rod Temperton, said overall its financial performance was in line with expectations, with normalised operating profit up on the comparative period.Shares in Total Systems dropped after the software systems providers warned that it is likely that a 'considerable' loss will be incurred for the half year.Despite the dire warnings at its June trading update the market was still surprised by the poor interim results from Titan Europe, the company which designs and makes undercarriage components for industrial vehicles. The shares fell back after the company said the weak trading conditions seen in the second quarter of the year are expected to extend through August, though there is some prospect of an improvement in sales levels feeding through in the last quarter of the year.