News

London finished with a three-figure loss as a global economy teetering on the edge of recession cancelled any euphoria linked to Barack Obama's victory in the US election.

While Obama's success was largely welcomed by the markets, the first African-American president faces a tough challenge when he moves into the White House in January. Wall Street fell early on having rallied 300 points yesterday.

Resource stocks remained in the dog-house through to the close in London Wednesday. Oil services groups Wood Group, Petrofac and Amec see their recent good run come to an abrupt end, while miners Kazakhmys, Vedanta, Lonmin and Xstrata felt the pain on weaker copper prices.

Copper miner Antofagasta defies the trend, however, rising after a clutch of brokers raised their price targets for the stock following yesterday's production update.

High street fashion giant Next recovered from an early retreat after it maintained guidance for the current year. Like-for-like sales, down 4.4% at Next Retail in the 14 weeks to 1 November, are expected to continue to fall in 2009 but "not necessarily at any worse rate than the current year". Analysts said today's statement was better than expected. High street rival Marks & Spencer moves up in sympathy.

Bus and train operator FirstGroup improved after well-received interim results. Stripping out various charges and non-recurring items, pre-tax profit in the six months to 30 September rose to £107.1m from £74.5m the year before. Sector peer Stagecoach gets a tow higher.

Shopping centre developer Liberty International saw an almost 30% decline in net assets per share in the year to end-September as voids climbed. Losses of £1,088m on the revaluation and sale of investment and development property tipped the company into deficit at the pre-tax level. Pre-tax loss was £1,059m, versus a profit of £442m a year before.

Aerospace and defence firm Cobham said it has experienced strong organic growth in the first nine months of 2008, consistent with its expectations.

Broadcaster ITV said given the uncertain economic outlook, trading conditions across the group are likely to remain challenging in 2009. Group revenues for the nine months to September fell to £1,471m from £1,484m in the same period last year.

Higher funding costs and rising bad debts have prompted Irish bank Allied Irish to cut its EPS target this year to around 120c.

Oil explorer Soco International said its balance sheet continues to strengthen thanks to the revenues now being earned from oil and gas sales from two of its assets.

Forestry management group Fountains has confirmed it has received more than one possible bid approach.

Ideal Shopping said current market conditions have had a negative impact on sales and it anticipates a small trading loss for the year to December.

Housebuilder Redrow is on course to meet its debt objectives for the financial year despite housing market activity staying "at a low level with only a modest seasonal upturn experienced in September and October". The shares retreated after the company reported that the low levels of activity and resultant competitive conditions mean that pricing remains under significant pressure.

Interserve, which provides specialist cleaning services, said activity in the UK construction market remains solid, underpinned by long-term structural projects for schools, hospitals and prisons and for private-sector framework programmes. The company's share rose after it said it is trading in line with expectations.

Maintenance and building services group Rok is axing more jobs after predicting a £12m fall in underlying profit for 2008 on revenue £120m shy of previous expectations.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 69.00p +5.83%
Next (NXT) 1,189.00p +5.69%
Barclays (BARC) 195.90p +5.38%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 193.90p +5.27%
Hammerson (HMSO) 789.50p +4.92%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 150.10p +3.52%
FirstGroup (FGP) 459.75p +3.26%
British Land Co (BLND) 672.00p +2.75%
Centrica (CNA) 329.50p +2.65%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 244.75p +2.62%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 359.00p -12.01%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 354.25p -10.82%
John Wood Group (WG.) 253.00p -10.28%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 908.00p -9.15%
Old Mutual (OML) 53.60p -9.15%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,190.00p -8.74%
Amec (AMEC) 539.50p -8.64%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,166.00p -8.41%
Cobham (COB) 189.00p -8.03%
Aviva (AV.) 390.25p -7.25%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Premier Foods (PFD) 37.00p +12.98%
SVG Capital (SVI) 375.00p +11.61%
Yell Group (YELL) 68.25p +10.98%
3i Infrastructure (3IN) 104.00p +10.64%
Henderson Group (HGG) 68.75p +10.00%
Interserve (IRV) 230.25p +9.64%
Cattles (CTT) 48.50p +9.60%
Close Brothers Group (CBG) 604.00p +8.83%
ITE Group (ITE) 99.25p +8.77%
Babcock & Brown Public Partnerships (BBPP) 94.75p +7.98%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Aricom (ORE) 11.00p -15.38%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 37.50p -12.79%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 209.75p -12.24%
Redrow (RDW) 189.00p -10.53%
Mapeley (MAY) 235.00p -9.27%
Persimmon (PSN) 322.75p -8.24%
Kier Group (KIE) 727.00p -7.97%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 760.50p -7.87%
Aveva Group (AVV) 820.50p -7.60%
Bellway (BWY) 559.50p -7.37%