London shares open lower after mixed Wall St; Sainsbury down on bid concerns |
|
|
|
Published
:
Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:37
|
LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares opened lower, consolidating yesterday's gains and following on from a mixed close on Wall Street overnight and mixed trading in Asian markets this morning, with J Sainsbury the main faller on bid concerns, dealers said.At 8.13 am, the FTSE 100 index was 13.5 points weaker at 6,304.5, after closing 61.2 points higher at 6,318.0 yesterday, while the FTSE 250 index also slipped lower at the open.In the US overnight, the Dow Jones industrials nudged higher for a fourth straight session but moved cautiously as investors awaited new data to assess whether their hopes for an interest rate cut are justified.A surprise warning that mobile phone maker Motorola will post a loss for the first quarter also made the market uneasy as it looked ahead to earnings reports that begin next month.The Dow closed just 13.60 points ahead at 12,461.10, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 4.18 at 2,451.74 and the S&P 500 index slipped 0.50 at 1,434.55.Meanwhile, Asian stocks also diverged this morning, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng down 29.68 points at 19,660.57 by midday but Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index closing up 61.41 at 17,480.61.In London, J Sainsbury led the casualties, down 7-1/2 pence at 542-1/2 in opening deals, following a press report the retailer's pension trustees have told the private equity consortium pursuing the supermarket chain it would have to tackle the 3 bln stg pension deficit to succeed in a takeover, the Financial Times has reported, citing a person close to the talks.On the upside, however, strong performances from oil stocks minimised index losses.BP was up 2-1/2 pence at 531 and Royal Dutch Shell 5 higher at 1,647 as oil prices hovered around the 62 usd a barrel mark on concerns over tighter US gasoline stocks ahead of the US summer driving season, traders said.On the second line, bullish broker comment buoyed shares in Hikma Pharmaceuticals, 12 pence ahead at 402 thanks to Citigroup upgrading its stance to 'buy' from 'sell' as it believes the group has come through its downgrade cycle.newsdesk@afxnews.comhco/jagCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
Consumer and retailing highlights to 15:45 GMT 