UK Indexes Decline; JD Sports Soars 7%

Arthi Gupta
09 Jan, 2012
New York City

The UK indexes tracked lower on the weak market sentiment in Europe. Financial sector revenues grow at a record pace in since 2007. Royal Bank of Scotland planned to sell its global cash equities business.

[R]2:30 PM London – The UK indexes tracked lower on the weak market sentiment in Europe. Financial sector revenues grow at a record pace in since 2007. Royal Bank of Scotland planned to sell its global cash equities business.[/R]

The UK indexes dropped ahead of a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel later today.

Germany placed €3.9 billion of its 6-month treasury bills that will mature on July 11 at a yield of -0.0122% compared to 0.0005% at a similar auction on December 5. The bid-to-cover ratio fell to 1.8 from 3.8.

In London, FTSE 100 Index declined 7.03 or 0.1% to 5,642.59 and the pound edged lower to $1.5421.

UK Financial Firms'' Business Volume Grows

Firms in the UK financial sector logged its fastest growth in business volume since 2007, a survey conducted by the Confederation of British Industry and PricewaterhouseCoopers showed on Monday.

About 53% of firms said sales increased in the fourth quarter, while 24% reported a fall. The resulting balance of 29% was the biggest since June 2007, the Financial Services Survey showed.

Gainers & Losers

AstraZeneca Plc fell 0.6% to €3,025 pence after the biopharmaceutical company reaffirmed its guidance for core earnings for the full year 2011 in the lower half of the range of $7.20 to $7.40.

HMV Group Plc slid 0.3% to 2.99 pence after the music retailer reported like for like sales for the 5 weeks to December fell 8.2%.

JD Sports Fashion Plc soared 7.2% to 707.50 pence after the sports fashion retailer confirmed that it is in advanced discussions to buy certain assets of clothing retailer Blacks Leisure Group Plc.

Persimmon Plc surged 4.5% to 502.50 pence after the homebuilder said it anticipates underlying profit before tax for fiscal year 2011 to range from £130 million to £148 million.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc climbed 0.3% to 20.57 pence after the banking and insurance holding company plans to sell its global cash equities business, media reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.