FTSE 100 down but dealers hope for revival |
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Sat, 01 Oct 2005 00:35
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LONDON: The FTSE 100 index, after an initial rally on Thursday, fell during close at 5478.3, down 17 points, almost belying bookmakers' expectations that the last day of the quarter will see the index at its high. Intra-day, the index peaked at 5508.4, and analysts hope it will gain on opening Friday.
Volumes were moderate -- 2.77 billion shares traded in 232,447 deals.
Mining stocks reversed earlier gains and the retail segment continued with the downtrend. The fall was mainly because crude futures again touched $67 a barrel and investors exited ahead of the third-quarter end.
Analysts felt the fall mirrored losses on the Wall Street. As London was closing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 42.8 points at 10,430.3, the S&P 500 down by 3.65 points at 1,213.25 and the Nasdaq composite down by 0.94 at 2,114.46.
On the London exchange, mining shares were the most affected as most of the investors chose to book profits before the last trading day of the quarter. Rio Tinto at 2,318 dropped 28 pence, BHP Billiton at 907.50 lost 1 pence and Xstrata at 1466 lost 24 pence. In the retail segment, Boots lost 20.50 pence as it stated it is unlikely to meet the full year sales target. Even DSG International fell by 3 pence, Kingfisher down 4.75 and Next 25. Online poker company PartyGaming lost dearly, down 8 pence at 87.50.
Among the gainers was Hilton, up 7.50 pence at 315, mainly on account of bullish comment from ABN Amro. Oil stocks too gained -- BP by 4.5 pence and RD Shell "B" by 10 pence.
Gainers in the financial stocks included 3i (plus 13 pence) and mortgage bank Northern Rock (up 8.5 pence).
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