FTSE slides with retail sector weighing on index

The FTSE 100 index slid down on Wednesday with weakness seen in banking, mining and retail sectors. By 11.57 GMT, the index had dropped 0.4 per cent to 6033, a loss of over 23 points. Wednesday's climb-down comes after its third successive day of increases seen on Tuesday, reaching levels not hit since May 2008.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Wednesday, January 19, 2011

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The much publicised woes for music and entertainment giant HMV, coupled with a 10% drop for KESA, Europe's third biggest electrical retailer put pressure on the retail sector with many stocks sliding down in value. Next and Marks and Spencer both saw their prices drop, with losses of 1.4 and 1.5 per cent. Morrisons also climbed down 1.1 per cent following a broker downgrade.

After posting strong results on Tuesday, both the banks and the miners saw profits taken on Wednesday. Notable fallers in both sectors were Barclays, sliding 1.4 per cent and Rio Tinto, dropping 0.5 per cent.

However, the top loser in the index was Imperial Tobacco, posting a nosedive of 3.2 per cent following an ex-dividend confirmation.

At the other end of the scale, the top riser of the day was Pearson, with the publisher adding 5.8 per cent as it's predicted profit was pushed up again for the second time in a quarter.

Despite market concern over the unexpected absence of Apple's driving force, Steve Jobs, the firm saw a rise of 4 per cent as the end of year figures were higher than anticipated, lifted by strong iPhone and iPad sales.

 

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