FTSE slightly lower in early deals
MORNING REPORT: Headline shares were slightly lower in early deals as investors fretted over heavy falls in the US and Asia overnight, with resources issues bearing the brunt of the losses, Tullow Oil the biggest casualty.
At 8:30am, the FTSE100 was down just 7.24 points at 5,148.71 with the FTSE250 ahead 19.2 points at 9,720.11 and the FTSE Smallcaps little changed at 2,761.44.
US & ASIA
In the US last night, the Dow fell 134 points at 10,040, the Nasdaq Composite lost 36 points at 2,124 and the S&P500 shed 15 points at 1,052.
In Asia today, the Nikkei closed down 150 points at 8,845, while the Hang Seng was recently off 57 points at 20,601.
LONDON MARKETS
News of heavy falls in US and Asia markets overnight cast a cloud over early activity in London, as investors mulled over a raft of blue chip earnings news.
Resources stocks were in the firing line, with oil and metals prices easing on demand concerns.
Tullow Oil was the biggest blue chip casualty early on, down 52p at 1,245p, despite the company reporting a surge in half-year pretax profits, investors concerned over the effects of the tax dispute in Uganda.
With crude continuing to trade under $72 a barrel, the oil producers all struggled, with Shell down 7.5p at 1,644p, BG Group off 9.5p at 1,065p and BP falling 2.3p at 375.2p.
Cairn Energy bucked the trend as it continued to enjoy the deal to sell Cairn India to Vedanta, the shares adding a further 4.6p at 450.1p.
Among the miners, Vedanta Resources was one of the worst performers, off 17p at 1,865p, while ENRC fell 11p at 819.5p and Rio Tinto slipped 15.5p at 3,146p.
However, BHP Billiton traded in positive territory, up 8.5p at 1,811.5p, after revealing a healthy rise in full-year profits and raising its dividend 6.1%.
Banking shares were under pressure, with Barclays the weakest of them, down 2.55p at 306.6p. Lloyds eased 0.42p at 66.99p and Royal Bank of Scotland edged down 0.27p at 43.83p.
On the upside with blue chips, engineering services group Serco topped the leaderboard, up 14p at 573.5p, after the Docklands Light Railway operator posted a surge in first-half earnings.
Temporary power supplier Aggreko was another to benefit from well-received results this morning, adding 18p at 1,447p.
Commercial property firms were in demand, with Segro leading them higher with a gain of 4.8p at 280.9p, while British Land rose 4.1p at 451.8p, Land Securities gained 4.5p at 602.5p and Hammerson was 3p better at 357p.
A rise in gold to $1,230 an ounce gave African Barrick Gold fresh impetus, up 5.5p at 573p, while Randgold Resources rose 5p at 5,735p and Fresnillo added 14p at 1,014p.
Auto insurer Admiral stormed ahead 13p at 1,486p as the owner of Confused.com revealed record half-year numbers. Admiral pretax profits were up 21% at £126.9m.
