London midday: Stocks fall as euro nerves resurface

11th Oct 2011 12:23

Stocks are firmly in the red now as investors nervously await a vote in Slovakia on ratification of the Eurozone rescue fund. Opposition parties in the small central European state could move to block Slovakian approval of the bailout fund, arguing that they shouldn't have to cough up to help Greece, which is richer.In UK economic news, house prices in Britain fell by 1.3% over the year in August, new figures from the Department for Local Communities and Government show. Month-on-month, prices climbed by 0.6% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The average house price stood at £208,476 in August. Industrial production in the United Kingdom grew by 0.2% on month (-1.0% on year) in August 2011, according to the latest data out from the Office for National Statistics. In terms of quarterly variations production expanded at a 0.2% pace. Consensus estimates were for a 0.2% fall. In stocks news, power systems giant Rolls-Royce was lower after it signed a $99.9m MissionCare contract with the US Navy to provide support for the F405 (Adour) engines that power its T-45 training aircraft.On the FTSE 250, Centamin Egypt bucked the downward trend in the mining sector after seeing a 67% increase in production in the third quarter.Internet and catalogue shopping firm N. Brown had a solid first half to its trading year but sales have gone ex-growth in the second half, causing shares to drop 5%.Ladbrokes is lower a day after walking away from its preliminary discussions with Sportingbet, due to regulatory concerns with Sportingbet's Turkish language website.Fusion IP, which commercialises university research, saw its shares leap today after it posted its first ever pre-tax profit. The firm posted a profit of £1.0m before tax in the year to the end of July , compared to a £1.6m loss in 2010. FTSE 100 - RisersCompass Group (CPG) 540.00p +2.18%Kingfisher (KGF) 262.90p +1.86%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 474.10p +1.74%BAE Systems (BA.) 274.20p +1.41%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,179.00p +1.21%Whitbread (WTB) 1,641.00p +1.17%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 24.89p +1.14%ITV (ITV) 64.05p +1.10%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 36.01p +0.87%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,396.00p +0.79%FTSE 100 - FallersOld Mutual (OML) 109.00p -3.80%Man Group (EMG) 165.20p -3.34%Cairn Energy (CNE) 289.90p -2.69%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 102.70p -2.28%Bunzl (BNZL) 770.50p -2.10%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 868.50p -2.03%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 320.60p -2.02%Aviva (AV.) 323.10p -1.88%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,075.00p -1.74%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,077.00p -1.64%FTSE 250 - RisersMothercare (MTC) 202.50p +5.19%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 12.69p +4.88%KCOM Group (KCOM) 69.50p +4.51%Mitie Group (MTO) 236.50p +3.64%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 98.80p +3.62%RPC Group (RPC) 338.30p +2.83%RPS Group (RPS) 164.90p +2.74%International Personal Finance (IPF) 237.40p +2.55%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 101.30p +2.43%Debenhams (DEB) 65.85p +2.41%FTSE 250 - FallersCSR (CSR) 184.30p -5.29%Perform Group (PER) 202.20p -3.71%Petropavlovsk (POG) 616.50p -3.60%Michael Page International (MPI) 345.40p -3.52%Unite Group (UTG) 165.90p -3.49%Premier Foods (PFD) 4.92p -3.36%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 110.00p -3.00%Cape (CIU) 457.10p -2.72%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 161.00p -2.66%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 88.40p -2.64%