ADP Data Sparks Jobs Fears

British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) held on to earlier gains, trading at 600p, up 18p or 3.09%, approaching the close after a ruling from telecoms regulator Ofcom on the pricing of its Sky 1 and 2 sports channels proved less restrictive than anticipated; BSkyB intends to appeal against the ruling all same. BSkyB's progress could not halt the slide of the FTSE 100 index, however and at 4.29 GMT the blue-chip index was down 13.04 points or 0.23% at 5,659.28.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Wednesday, March 31, 2010

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Automatic Data Processing (ADP), the firm that processes the payroll cheques of 16% of employees in the US, foreshadowed US non-farm payrolls data, due on Friday, with its own weak data, causing shares to drift lower. Commercial property and development company Segro was the worst performer amongst FTSE 100 constituent companies, losing 10.8p or 3.28% to 318.10p, after it traded ex-dividend; deals involving shares from Segro, along with those from Barclays and Taylor Wimpey, are to be analysed by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) as part of its investigation into insider trading.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto continued its debt reduction programme, with the announcement that it had received a binding offer for its Alcan Packaging Beauty business, although it declined to reveal any further details. The deal does, however, follow the divestment off its Alcan Packaging Food Americas business for $1.2 billion at the start of this month, which took its total disposal of assets to over $10 billion since the start of 2008. Rio Tinto's share price fell 9.5p or 0.24% to 3,887.5p.

 

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