FTSE 100 Drifts from 10-Month High

The FTSE 100 index opened at its highest level for 10 months on Monday morning, but the market was weak overall as investors looked to take profits and by mid morning the index was down 0.9% at 4,689.01 points.

Dominic Turner
shareprices.com - Monday, August 10, 2009

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Share prices in Friends Provident rose 7.2% to 75.2p after the insurer said that it had received a revised bid offer, worth £1.85 billion, from investment group Resolution, which it was considering. Elsewhere in the insurance sector, Prudential also rose 2.3% to 493.3p on a weekend report that it will increase its dividend when it announces interim results later in the week.

Gains in the insurance sector failed to compensate for losses in the banking and mining sectors, however, with banks giving back some of their gains from last week and mining stocks suffering from flat commodity prices. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was down 7.4% to 43.5p following its disappointing results for the first half of the year, posted on Friday, while Lloyds Banking Group was down 5% to 96.8p after a report in the Sunday Times that it is considering a £15 billion rights issue as an alternative to the Asset Protection Scheme sponsored by the Treasury.

In the mining sector, Rio Tinto was down 1.7% to £23.76 after accusations of spying on Chinese steel mills for six years, but the sector as a whole was weak. Silver specialist Fresnillo fell 0.71% to 629.50p, while Anglo American fell 2.2% to £18.94 and Xstrata fell 1.6% to 798p.

 

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