Resource stocks, banks continue to push London index down

A surprise downgrade of Ireland's sovereign debt rating by Standard & Poor's far outweighed good results from some companies. In addition investors are showing further concern about the global economic recovery. All in all stocks are broadly down today, the FTSE 100 index attained a drop of 1.2 per cent by 14:25 BST.

Chris Bradshaw
shareprices.com - Wednesday, August 25, 2010

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Tullow Oil today said that the development of its oil fields in Uganda will be delayed. The announcement overshadowed positive results and investors are selling shares in the company at a fast rate. By early afternoon Tullow Oil moved down 7.5 per cent.

Other resource stocks followed a selling trend. Petrofac Ltd moved down by 5 per cent while Antofagasta, Anglo American, Kazakhmys, Lonmin and Vedanta Resources all lost between 3.5 and 2 per cent.

BHP Billiton said today that it is 'cautious' about the short term outlook for the global economy and that it expected it to be volatile for some time ahead. The miner lost 2 per cent today so far despite profit reports showing a 47 per cent rise in its annual profit, in line with analyst forecasts.

However a few stocks managed to buck the trend. Admiral Group took up a decent 3.3 per cent in value through today's trading despite the otherwise dark mood. The insurer said it expected a very strong full year. Serco, the outsourcing company, is also continuing its gains, rising by 2.8 per cent. These gains are impressive considering the general performance of blue chip stocks today.

 

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