AGL 40.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.02%)
AIRLINK 127.04 Decreased By ▼ -0.95 (-0.74%)
BOP 6.67 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (1.06%)
CNERGY 4.51 Decreased By ▼ -0.09 (-1.96%)
DCL 8.55 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.83%)
DFML 41.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.04 (-0.1%)
DGKC 86.85 Increased By ▲ 0.27 (0.31%)
FCCL 32.28 Increased By ▲ 0.14 (0.44%)
FFBL 64.80 Decreased By ▼ -0.62 (-0.95%)
FFL 10.25 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
HUBC 109.57 Decreased By ▼ -0.92 (-0.83%)
HUMNL 14.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.07 (-0.47%)
KEL 5.05 Decreased By ▼ -0.08 (-1.56%)
KOSM 7.46 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (4.78%)
MLCF 41.38 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.65%)
NBP 60.41 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (0.53%)
OGDC 190.10 Decreased By ▼ -4.59 (-2.36%)
PAEL 27.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-0.43%)
PIBTL 7.83 Decreased By ▼ -0.17 (-2.13%)
PPL 150.06 Decreased By ▼ -1.11 (-0.73%)
PRL 26.88 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
PTC 16.07 Increased By ▲ 0.07 (0.44%)
SEARL 86.00 Increased By ▲ 7.80 (9.97%)
TELE 7.71 Increased By ▲ 0.32 (4.33%)
TOMCL 35.41 Decreased By ▼ -0.26 (-0.73%)
TPLP 8.12 Increased By ▲ 0.21 (2.65%)
TREET 16.41 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (3.27%)
TRG 53.29 Increased By ▲ 0.53 (1%)
UNITY 26.16 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-1.47%)
WTL 1.26 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.79%)
BR100 9,884 Decreased By -36.4 (-0.37%)
BR30 30,600 Decreased By -151.5 (-0.49%)
KSE100 93,355 Increased By 130.9 (0.14%)
KSE30 28,931 Increased By 46 (0.16%)

Britain's FTSE 100 erased all its session gains to close lower on Thursday as an oil price spike back above $55 sent investors scurrying, although the market still managed to end the first quarter of 2005 with a small gain. Caterer Compass was the weakest blue chip performer, down 5 percent after it warned of a 24 million pound hit to its annual profits. The slice out of earnings is due largely to a switch from military contracts in the Middle East to less lucrative peacekeeping work.
There were some bright notes however, including a surge for pharmaceutical group Shire after it made reassuring comments about a key drug.
The FTSE 100 closed down 6.3 points at 4,894.4 - down for a third straight day but still sealing its fourth consecutive quarterly rise. However, gains so far in 2005 would have been greater were it not for a lacklustre March, when the blue chip index fell 1.4 percent. The drop was the FTSE's first negative monthly return since last July.
Analysts said the market looked relatively stable but told investors not to expect great progress in the short-term.
"It's difficult to get the feeling the market is going to do anything but trade sideways for a month or two," said John Smith, investment director at Brown Shipley. "We've got higher interest rates somewhere on the horizon and the downside looks supported by the economic background and corporate profits growth."
Oil prices may weigh on sentiment going forward, with investment bank Goldman Sachs saying the commodity has entered a "super-spike" period and could surge as high as $105 a barrel.
Shire, Britain's third-largest drug maker, topped the blue chip leaderboard, up 7.6 percent after its chief executive said US sales of hyperactivity drug Adderall XR had steadied following the drug's surprise suspension in Canada earlier this year.
"We think the scare is over," Matthew Emmens told the Lehman Brothers Global Healthcare conference in Miami on Wednesday, according to a web cast of his speech.
Miners Xstrata and Antofagasta gained 2.9 percent and 1.8 percent respectively as copper hit a new record peak in Shanghai. Europe's largest copper producer also forecast strong demand.
In the energy sector, oil giant BP added 0.3 percent ahead of its trading statement on Monday.
"We're comfortable buying BP. We think the scope for upgrades to earnings is still there because of a higher oil price," said Brown Shipley's Smith.
Renewed take-over rumours pushed mobile phone firm O2 up 1.5 percent as talk swirled that European rivals Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica might bid for the UK group. All three companies declined to comment.
On the downside, medical device firm Smith & Nephew was one of the weakest FTSE 100 stocks, off 4.7 percent after saying it had received a subpoena from the US Attorney's office in Newark, New Jersey seeking information about agreements with orthopaedic surgeons over reconstructive products. US device makers said they had also received subpoenas from federal prosecutors.
On the FTSE 250 index, milk producer Dairy Crest jumped 5.2 percent after it promised to meet pretax profit expectations for the year, despite tough competition. But engineer FKI flopped 5.8 percent after it warned a weak US dollar would hit profits.

Copyright Reuters, 2005

Comments

Comments are closed.