News

London midday: Footsie hit by US fund woes

22 June 2007 11:55:00

London closed the morning session in the red with financials weak following the problems for Bear Stearns in the US sub-prime market.

Bank Barclays was lower after it admitted it had some exposure to the two Bear Stearn funds though it said losses were not material. Fund manager Schroders was also down on its large US exposure.

Royal Bank of Scotland dipped as it said it, and partners Santander and Fortis, expected to issue offer documents in relation to their bid for ABN AMRO by mid-July. The trio added they are making good progress on regulatory change of control and anti-trust filings.

Tesco is the biggest riser as it retraces some of the losses it posted in the last few days following its first quarter results.

Pearson rallied as UBS repeated 'buy' advice on the back of news that exploratory talks with General Electrics regarding the possibility of a joint bid for Dow Jones have ended.

Housebuilders have so far shrugged off the announcement this morning that the Office of Fair Trading has launched an investigation into the housebuilding industry in the UK. The inquiry will focus on two main areas - customer satisfaction, and planning issues. Sector leaders Persimmon and merger partners Taylor Woodrow and Wimpey are little changed.

Stagecoach has been awarded the contract to run the East Midlands rail franchise. The new franchise will begin on 11th November 2007and end on April 1st 2015. The East Midlands franchise brings together current Midland Mainline services from London St Pancras and the eastern section of Central Trains.

Health and fitness firm ADDleisure has a major new shareholder in the shape of private healthcare giant BUPA, which is pumping £6.7m into the Aim-listed group in return for a 29.9% stake.

ReNeuron bounced off six month lows today after the stem cell group said its scientists have generated stable human pancreatic cell lines for treatment of Type 1 diabetes.

Gold Oil rallied on news that it received approval from the Cuban National Office of Mineral Resources to explore oil and gas both onshore and offshore Cuba.

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