FTSE Dips on Pub Tavern

Ivaylo
01 May, 2007
New York City

The UK benchmark index sank on Tuesday on a quiet day for stocks trading in London. Pub owner Punch Taverns declined despite a 12% rise in first-half pre-tax profit. Shopping centre developer Liberty International led the advancers after posting a solid increase in first quarter profit. With most countries in Europe closed for the May day holiday, the FTSE 100 was down 30.5 points at 6,418.7 by late morning.

[R]9:00AM The FTSE 100 slips in light trading, Pub Taverns leads decliners.[/R]
The UK benchmark index was lower on Tuesday. The FTSE 100 was down 30.5 points at 6,418.7 by late morning.

Advancers

There were very few advancers in the market. Real estate stocks gained after well-received figures from shopping centre operator Liberty International, up 2.7 %. First-quarter profit was boosted by rising net rental income cmpared with a year earlier. Net asset value per share, a key gauge for property companies, also rose 4% during the quarter.

Other gainers included Hammerson which rose 1.1%, while Slough Estates, which was supported by continued bid speculation, firmed 1.5%.

Decliners

Punch Taverns leads the decliners, down 4.1%, after investors took profits in the pub group. Punch reported a 12% rise in profits and said second-half trading was in line with expectations

In the mid-caps, Aberdeen Asset Management lost 2.6% despite the fund manager announcing a sharp rise in interim profits. Technology commercialisation firm Angle announced it expects pre-tax losses to be 4.4 million pounds in the second half and 9.3 million pounds in the full year. Shares of Angle slumped almost 21%.

[R]8:00AM Japan finishes lower on profit-taking and weak U.S. close.[/R]
Japan finished lower on Tuesday. Markets in China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand were closed for a public holiday.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 index in Tokyo ended at 17,275.68, down 124.73 points, or 0.72%, from Friday. Trading was subdued on account of Golden Week. The market was closed Monday for a national holiday and will be closed again on Thursday and Friday. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group shed 1.9% after a downward revision of its earnings estimate for the year ended March 31. NTT DoCoMo added 2%, however, as it projected a profit rise for this fiscal year after reporting a double-digit net profit fall in the just-ended year.

In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index ended also down 20.2 points, or 0.3%, at 6,145.8. Resources stocks led the decline, with BHP Billiton down 1.2% and Rio Tinto down 2.1%. Symbion Health gained 4.4%, though, after receiving a takeover offer from a consortium comprising Healthscope, Ironbridge and Archer Capital.

[R]5:30AM Cocoa slips Monday on supply concerns, gold climbs.[/R]
Most-active July cocoa on the New York Board of Trade ended down $24 at $1,798 a metric ton. Arabica coffee futures for May finished down 0.85 cent at $1.0315 a pound, with July off 0.85 cent at $1.0615. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for May closed down 0.11 cent at 9.24 cents a pound, with July off 0.10 cent at 9.10 cents.

June gold ended up $1.70 at $683.50 a troy ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while July silver was unchanged at $13.575 an ounce. July platinum settled up $5.40 at $1,298.40 an ounce, but June palladium dipped 45 cents to $374 an ounce. The most-active July copper contract climbed 2.40 cents to settle at $3.5565 per pound.

The June crude oil contract ended down 75 cents at $65.71 a barrel after trading at $66.65 a barrel. May heating oil finished unchanged at $1.9135 a gallon. June heating oil closed down 1.79 cent at $1.8948 a gallon. May gasoline added 0.792 cent to end at $2.4405 a gallon after rising to $2.4550 a gallon. June natural gas settled up 3.2 cents at $7.863 per million British thermal units.