Shares end the day lower with banks struggling

END-OF-DAY REPORT: Shares ended the day modestly lower, with banks turning negative on Basel III concerns and the miners suffering as metals prices eased, offsetting strong results from the likes of Inmarsat.

At the close of business, the FTSE100 was down 25.39 points at 5,849.96 with the FTSE250 off 32.31 points at 11,047.64 and the FTSE Smallcaps little changed at 3,093.96.

NEW YORK

US stocks were firmly lower in late morning trade with profit-takers cashing in after last week’s strong gains and Euroland sovereign debt worries still weighing.

Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 56 points at 11,388, the S&P500 lost 6 points at 1,220 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3 points at 2,576.

LONDON MARKETS

It was a cautious start to the week in London today, with weak resources stocks and banks offsetting strong corporate results from the likes of Inmarsat and G4S.

Mining shares were generally lower, with Anglo American the worst of them, shedding 73.5p at 2,955.5p. BHP Billiton lost 19.5p at 2,430.5p and Rio Tinto edged down 15p at 4,331p. Rangold Resources bucked the trend, adding 50p at 5,990p as gold ticked up to $1,396 an ounce.

However, African Barrick Gold slipped 10.5p at 538.5p, after being cut to sell from neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Amongst the oil producers, Shell dropped 18p at 2,026p on news it is cutting its stake in Australia’s Woodside Petroleum by 29%. BG Group fell 14p at 1,278.5p and BP eased 2.35p at 444p. Tullow Oil slipped 25p at 1,226p on being downgraded to neutral from buy at Goldman Sachs.

Utilities were out of favour, led down by Scottish & Southern Energy, off 18p at 1,122p after a downgrade to reduce from neutral at Nomura. Severn Trent lost 18p at 1,419p and National Grid fell 6.5p at 584p.

Banks lost their way on growing criticism of the Basel III agreement, with Royal Bank of Scotland slipping to the foot of the FTSE league table, 1.36p lower at 43.64p. Lloyds Banking Group was 1.18p lower at 68.63p and Barclays eased 4.2p at 285.65.

Insurer Legal & General edged down 0.1p at 103.2p ahead of a trading update expected tomorrow.

On the upside with blue chips, BAE Systems ticked up 0.1p at 342p on weekend press reports of an impending £11bn order for fighter planes from India.

Rolls-Royce was under early pressure on concerns over the Qantas engine failures, although news that it had a fix for the problem and news of an order worth $350m from Egyptair boosted the shares 16p at 607p by the close.

Satellite communications specialist Inmarsat jumped to the top of the leaderboard, 20p higher at 695p, after reporting strong growth in third quarter revenue. The group posted total revenue of $308.8m for the quarter to end-September, up 18.8% on $260m in the prior year period.

Security firm G4S rose 0.8p at 258.9p when it said trends from the first half continued into the third quarter with strong performances in new markets and general signs of stability.

In the retail segment, Marks & Spencer was in demand ahead of tomorrow’s interim results, the shares gaining 4.9p at 413.2p. Primark owner AB Foods, which publishes full-year results tomorrow, edged up 2p at 1,073p. However, Sainsbury, which reports its own interim numbers Wednesday, dipped 2.9p at 381.2p.

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB added 9.33p at 728p on reporting it has reached its target of ten million TV viewers, with 36% of households in the UK and Ireland reportedly subscribing.

Temporary power supplier Aggreko was 9p better at 1,609p, helped by an overweight rating at Morgan Stanley with its target price raised to 1,730p from 1,615p.

Other notable gainers included industrial pump maker Weir Group, up 25p at 1,693p, global caterer Compass Group, ahead 13.5p at 537p, and oil industry engineering group AMEC, up 10p at 1,134p.