Weak Trading in UK; Wolseley Up

Mayank Mehta
25 Jan, 2010
New York City

UK benchmark indexes declined more than 1% before recovering after the release of weaker than expected home sales data in the U.S. Broker recommendations led Man Group Plc, Johnson Matthey and Reed Elsevier lower. Resource stocks led the decliners.

[R]4:00PM London, 11:00 AM New York – UK benchmark indexes declined more than 1% before recovering after the release of weaker than expected home sales data in the U.S. Broker recommendations led Man Group Plc, Johnson Matthey and Reed Elsevier lower. Resource stocks led the decliners.[/R]

UK stocks decreased for the fourth day in a row on the worries that the global markets may take longer to recover and on weak commodities prices.

In London FTSE 100 Index closed lower 60.12 or 0.8% to 5,260.31 and the pound edged higher to close at $1.618 and edged higher to close at €1.143.

In the absence of any economic news, stocks gyrated on broker recommendations. Reed Elsevier declined 2% to 506 pence and Johnson Matthey Plc decreased 1.5% to 1,494 pence and Man Group Plc fell 2.9% to 264.70 pence.

Gainers & Losers

Aegis Group plc closed unchanged at 117.80 pence and the company acquired 17.7% shareholding in Charm Communications Inc, one of China''s TV buying and advertising agencies.

Aveva Group Plc added 1.1% to 1,055.00 pence after the engineering data and IT systems developer made positive comments for the business conditions.

Beale PLC decreased 3.7% to 29.36 after the departmental store said full-year revenues fell 0.6% to £47.6 million from £47.9 million a year ago. Net loss for the first-half was £0.91 million or 4.47 pence per diluted share compared to net loss of £1.39 million or 6.78 pence per share a year ago.

Bowleven plc the Africa-focused oil and gas explorer dropped 3% to 102.75 pence.

British Airways Plc the air services rose 0.3% to 208.60 pence.

Filtronic plc rose 2.3% to 33.00 after the designer and manufacturer of microwave products said first-half revenues fell 47.5% to £9.6 million from £18.3 million a year ago. Net profit for the first-half fell 99% to £0.16 million or 22 pence per diluted share compared to net profit of £11.7 million or 15.75 pence per share a year ago.

Healthcare Locums PLC rose 1.8% to 274.00 pence after the recruitment agency reiterated that 2009 results are in line with market expectations.

Hiscox Ltd dropped 0.1% to 327.40 pence and the underwriter during the January reinsurance renewal season saw average reductions in reinsurance rates of between 5-7% from the historically high rating levels of 2009, with local variation depending upon loss experience. This was as expected given the very light level of insured catastrophe loss borne by the industry in 2009.

Hornby Plc the interactive home entertainment products maker gained 3.8% to 143.00 pence.

James Halstead plc closed unchanged at 560.50 pence and the commercial flooring group reiterated its views on the annual performance for the year.


Kewill plc increased 4.0% to 104.00 pence after the logistics software developer made positive comments on the business.

Lupus Capital plc dropped 0.4% to 62.75 pence after the engineering conglomerate issued cautious views for the current year.

Wolseley plc gained 2.3% to 1,454.00 after the building materials firm said Steve Webster is stepping down as Chief Financial Officer and as an Executive Director on March 31

FTSE 100 Index Movers

Of the stocks in the FTSE 100 index, 29 increased, 73 declined and none were unchanged.

Man Group Plc decliners in the FTSE 100 index with a loss of 2.86% followed by losses in Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation Plc of 2.30%, in BT Group Plc of 2.24%, in Rio Tinto Plc of 2.19%, and in GlaxoSmithKline Plc of 2.09%.

Legal & General Group Plc led gainers in the FTSE 100 index with a rise of 3.68% followed by increase in RSA Insurance Group Plc of 2.07%, in The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc of 1.96%, in Barclays Plc of 1.71%, and in The British Land Company Plc of 1.46%.