UK Stocks Decline; Man Group, QinetiQ Plunge

Mayank Mehta
15 Jan, 2010
New York City

The UK benchmark index declined 1.3% for the week and dropped nearly 0.7% today. Stocks weakened after commodities edged lower and the pound traded volatile against the euro and the dollar. The asset manager Man Group declined after assets under management shrank. Experian quarterly sales were flat.

[R]4:00 PM London, 11:00 AM New York – The UK benchmark index declined 1.3% for the week and dropped nearly 0.7% today. Stocks weakened after commodities edged lower and the pound traded volatile against the euro and the dollar. The asset manager Man Group declined after assets under management shrank. Experian reported flat quarterly revenues. QinetiQ Group plunged 12%.[/R]

UK stocks declined after commodities prices decreased and Man Group said assets under its management declined. The benchmark index fell nearly 1.3% in the week.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 42.83 or 0.8% to 5,455.37 and the pound edged lower to close at $1.631 and edged higher to close at €1.135.

Miners and banks were among the leading decliners in trading.

Kazakhmys decreased 3.2% to 1,404 pence, Lonmin Plc fell 2.6% to 1,969 pence, Anglo American Plc declined 1% to 2,722 pence and Xstrata Plc fell 2.6% to 1,188 pence.

Gainers & Losers

Balfour Beatty plc decreased 0.5% to 280.50 pence an international infrastructure group in it s trading update said that its order book at the end of last year is around £13.7 billion.

Bovis Homes Group Plc dropped 1.9% to 445.30 pence after the home builder said it completed 1,527 homes, 25% more homes compared to a year ago. At £154,600, the average sales price in 2009 was 2.5% higher than the equivalent of £150,800 in 2008.

Experian Plc increased 0.9% to 603.50 pence after it reported flat fiscal third quarter revenues and indicated revenues in the fourth quarter are likely to improve modestly.

Lamprell plc, the oil and gas drilling contractor fell 0.05% to 202.70 pence.

Man Group Plc declined 5.4% to 297.40 pence after the largest publicly traded hedge-fund firm said third quarter funds under management at the end of 2009 declined to $42.4 billion compared to $44.0 billion at September 30.

Pearson plc increased 1.6% to 902.50 pence after the Financial Times publisher said it is looking for strategic alternatives to its 61% stake in Interactive Data Corp, a provider of financial market data, analytics and related solutions and trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Interactive Data surged 11% in New York.

QinetiQ Group plc plunged 11.2% to 144.60 pence after the defense technology group said in its main geographic markets the company is experiencing short-term uncertainties in specific areas. In the seven weeks since that time, these conditions have not improved and delays have been seen in orders from government customers in both the UK and US.

Spectris plc increased 3.6% to 792.00 pence after the productivity enhancing instrumentation and controls company expect sales for the full year including a contribution from acquisitions of 6% and beneficial effects from currency of 10%; on a constant currency organic basis, therefore, sales are expected to decline 16%.

Prezzo plc closed unchanged at 31.50 pence after the restaurant chain in its trading update said it expects to report preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended December 27 to be ahead of market expectations.

Smiths News PLC the wholesale distribution of newspapers, magazines and books increased 3.7% to 116.25 pence.

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 28 increased, 72 declined and 2 were unchanged.

Man Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 6.90% followed by losses in Old Mutual Plc of 3.56%, in Cobham Plc of 2.92%, in Kazakhmys Plc of 2.76%, and in Xstrata Plc of 2.58%.

International Power Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 4.07% followed by increase in Imperial Tobacco Group Plc of 2.09%, in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc of 2.06%, in Tullow Oil Plc of 1.83%, and in Intertek Group Plc of 1.73%.