News

Although the Footsie contains almost twice as many fallers as risers, the index is only marginally lower thanks to strong gains on oils and miners.

HBOS is the worst performing blue-chip, but Alliance & Leicester is also weak. News that HSBC is making a push to gain market share in the UK mortgage market by offering to match any current fixed rate mortgage deal that is coming to an end added to the unease over the sector.

Housebuilders, by contrast, are having a good day on hopes that the mortgage logjam could be moving. Interest rates are also expected to come down tomorrow. Persimmon was leading the risers, while Barratt and Taylor Wimpey are all higher.

Ex-dividend factors were also impacting some blue chips with Pearson, Admiral Group, Hammerson, and Prudential all down.

BG Group though posted gains despite going ex-dividend as crude prices rose again. BP and Cairn were also higher.

Rising cost pressures prompted Citigroup to downgrade its rating on SABMiller to 'hold' from 'buy' and cut its price target to 1,245p from 1,450p, ahead of the brewer's fourth quarter volume performance on April 16.

Pub owner and bid target Mitchells & Butlers reports like-for-like sales were up 0.6% in the 27 weeks to 5 April. Food sales have been buoyant and now account for 38% of sales with same outlet like-for-like sales growth up 4.8%.

Investment manager Hargreaves Lansdown reported its funds under management fell from £10.9bn to £10.7bn in the first three months of 2008. "We expect market conditions to remain challenging but will continue to innovate and exploit any opportunities the market presents," chief executive Peter Hargreaves said.

Kazakh mining group Eurasian Natural Resources lifted profits by 36% to $1.32bn, from $971m in 2006, boosted by soaring prices for its key product ferrochrome. The group added it expects a "strong year" in 2008.

Parcels and post group Business Post says revenues for the financial year increased by 10.1% on the previous year. Excluding the revenues from the FedEx contract, which terminated on 30 April 2007, underlying group revenue increased by 16.5%.

Children's character licensor Entertainment Rights posted a slight rise in annual pre-tax profit although the figures came in below expectations following distributor problems towards the end of 2007.

Ardana rose after the drugs firm said it received the same positive results from using an alternative formulation of Teverlix LA for the treatment of prostate cancer.

Marketing services group Optimisa is on the climb after it said 2007 results exceeded its expectations and added that it is already seeing benefits from its recent acquisition of EQ.

AIM-listed, North Sea focused oil group Granby has recommended a 63.45p per share offer from rival Silverstone citing the high costs of operating in the region and need to be larger for its decision.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Experian Group (EXPN) 373.00p +3.32%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,914.00p +2.86%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 367.00p +2.09%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,315.00p +2.03%
Persimmon (PSN) 700.50p +1.97%
Sage Group (SGE) 200.25p +1.86%
BG Group (BG.) 1,218.00p +1.84%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 308.75p +1.81%
Anglo American (AAL) 3,352.00p +1.76%
Shire (SHP) 1,006.00p +1.51%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
HBOS (HBOS) 529.00p -3.73%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,364.00p -2.85%
Admiral Group (ADM) 774.00p -2.76%
Pearson (PSON) 677.00p -2.59%
Standard Life (SL.) 258.50p -2.45%
Next (NXT) 1,166.00p -2.43%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,650.00p -2.08%
International Power (IPR) 419.00p -1.99%
Barclays (BARC) 468.25p -1.99%
Hammerson (HMSO) 1,090.00p -1.89%