London close: Losses narrow

15th Dec 2009 16:33

Top shares fought back late afternoon to halve losses, but most financial issues stayed lower, while oil plays also ended friendless.Turmoil in the Greek banking sector since credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded the country's sovereign debt last week continued to hurt.Barclays and HSBC were among the worst performers, also hurt by reports, since denied, that Austria's central bank and financial regulator have put leading cooperative bank, Oesterreichische Volksbanken, on a watch list. Austria's sixth-largest bank, Hypo Group Alpe Adria, was nationalized yesterday. Tullow Oil, Shell and BP skidded lower despite a bounce in the price of crude. It had fallen below $70 a barrel Monday after a nine-session losing streak, but is currently up a dollar.British Airways lost altitude following yesterday's news that cabin crew will strike for 12 days over Christmas. BA is mulling "all options" to cope with the planned action, including possible legal action.The carrier is not expected to back down despite estimates that the walkout could cost it £40-£50m in lost profits. Broker UBS points out that new measures workers object to are set to save the carrier about £100m a year.Silver miner Fresnillo led miners lower on weaker metal prices. Antofagasta dropped following a drop in copper prices.But RBS, whose chairman today insisted it needed to pay 'commercial' bonuses to reward staff, remained one of the best performing blue chips. Philip Hampton also denied reports that the board threatened to walk out over government limits to pay-outs.Costa Coffee owner Whitbread has offered to buy Eastern European coffee shop operator CoffeeHeaven for about £36m. The recommended offer of 24 pence in cash represents a premium of around 25%.Serco is confident enough about prospects to repeat forecasts for 2009 ahead of meetings with analysts prior to its financial year end on 31 December. The outsourcing group predicts double-digit revenue growth this year and a 30 basis point increase in adjusted pre-tax profit margin, excluding SI International which should increase growth by some 10%.National Express has received 90.47% acceptances for its £360m rights issue, the bus and trains operator confirmed Tuesday. Shareholders owning more than 323m shares subscribed for the fully underwritten 7 for 3 cash call at 105p a share.Elsewhere in the sector, bus and train group Go-Ahead expects interim profits from its rail business to halve though its bus business is doing better. Rail profits are expected to slide as growth in passenger numbers across its three franchises will not be sufficient to offset the reductions in net franchise subsidies from the government. Lloyd List publisher and exhibitions group Informa is still on track to hit forecasts this year. In a very brief statement, the group, which ended its interest in buying German publisher Springer earlier this month, it continues to trade in line with management expectations.A return to sales growth in the UK & Ireland helped carpets and floor coverings group Carpetright increase pre-tax profit by 16% and double the dividend. Profit before tax for the 26 weeks ended 31 October grew to £11m from £9.5m a year ago, which includes a £2.9m loss on the exit from Poland. Revenue rose 9% to £258m.Credit lender International Personal Finance (IPF) anticipates that full year results will slightly exceed expectations.FTSE 100 - RisersLegal & General Group (LGEN) 79.20p +2.59%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,073.00p +2.48%Carnival (CCL) 2,193.00p +2.24%United Utilities Group (UU.) 514.00p +2.09%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 31.63p +2.07%Diageo (DGE) 1,065.00p +1.24%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,278.00p +1.20%Compass Group (CPG) 464.70p +1.18%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,197.00p +1.18%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 230.70p +0.87%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 797.00p -2.69%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 701.80p -2.51%Amec (AMEC) 755.00p -2.45%Barclays (BARC) 284.55p -2.43%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,260.00p -2.33%Man Group (EMG) 310.00p -2.27%British Airways (BAY) 196.60p -2.19%Home Retail Group (HOME) 296.00p -1.99%Burberry Group (BRBY) 584.00p -1.85%Antofagasta (ANTO) 929.50p -1.64%FTSE 250 - RisersMorgan Sindall (MGNS) 584.50p +6.27%International Personal Finance (IPF) 214.00p +6.15%Misys (MSY) 209.00p +4.29%Aveva Group (AVV) 988.00p +3.89%Chaucer Holdings (CHU) 45.75p +3.39%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,728.00p +2.94%Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 278.00p +2.89%Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 455.00p +2.89%JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 458.70p +2.85%Pennon Group (PNN) 523.00p +2.75%FTSE 250 - FallersBrewin Dolphin (BRW) 138.40p -6.99%AG Barr (BAG) 850.00p -5.03%PayPoint (PAY) 402.00p -3.83%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 62.75p -3.46%Computacenter (CCC) 239.90p -3.27%Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 1,210.00p -3.20%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 265.00p -3.18%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 351.00p -3.12%Connaught (CNT) 365.20p -3.05%HMV Group (HMV) 99.20p -2.75%