London open: Footsie flat as investors show caution

9th Sep 2011 08:31

The Footsie opened unchanged from yesterday's close, with the markets digesting an underwhelming jobs speech by President Obama last night. Describing the stalling of US economic growth as a "national crisis", Obama unveiled his much-trailed American Jobs Act, which Obama pledged "will cut payroll taxes in half for every working American and every small business." US stocks dropped lower on Thursday as investors expressed their disappointment at the contents of a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke by forcing equity prices lower. Bernanke, speaking at the Economic Club of Minneapolis, more or less gave a reprise of the speech he made at the central bankers symposium at Jackson Hole, disappointing those hoping he might unveil some new measures to stimulate the US economy.Back in London, motor insurer Admiral was the heaviest faller early on as it could see "a small proportion" of its profits put at risk under the government's plans to ban the payment of referral fees to insurers. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) announced that it plans to tackle rising insurance costs by placing abolishing the fees, as part of its commitment to curb 'compensation culture'. Referral fees account for 6% of Admiral's UK car insurance profit before tax.Meanwhile, Tullow Oil was the high riser after a joint venture which it operates made an oil discovery at its Zeadyus exploration well, 150km offshore French Guiana. Shares surged over 8% in the opening minutes after its chief executive said, "The discovery at Zaedyus has proved the extension of the Jubilee-play across the Atlantic and made an important new discovery in French Guiana."Shares of Investec edged higher after its announcement of a recommended offer for Evolution Securities, valuing the investment banking and stockbroking firm at £233.2m. Evolution's shares were given a boost early on.FTSE 250 oil and gas group Salamander Energy fell into the red after increasing its stake in Block G4/50, one of the largest blocks of prospective acreage in the Gulf of Thailand.Pubs group JD Wetherspoon saw shares drop after announcing that while like-for-like sales grew by 2.1% in the year to 24 July, the growth rate has slowed to 0.4% in the six weeks to 4 September.Multi-metal mining colossus Rio Tinto was lower after saying that it is to invest $310m to assure a sustainable water supply for its iron ore operations in Pilbara, Western Australia. BCFTSE 100 - RisersTullow Oil (TLW) 1,330.00p +8.39%Pearson (PSON) 1,108.00p +1.00%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 335.90p +0.75%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,075.00p +0.73%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 115.20p +0.61%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 250.90p +0.48%Fresnillo (FRES) 2,157.00p +0.47%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,775.00p +0.45%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,306.00p +0.43%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 523.90p +0.36%FTSE 100 - FallersAdmiral Group (ADM) 1,316.00p -3.52%Barclays (BARC) 156.35p -1.67%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 22.43p -1.36%Smiths Group (SMIN) 955.00p -1.24%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 160.20p -1.23%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 32.56p -1.03%ARM Holdings (ARM) 584.00p -1.02%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,372.00p -0.94%Rexam (REX) 334.60p -0.80%Standard Life (SL.) 197.80p -0.70%