FTSE 100 stagnant as miners rally on gold
FTSE 100 stagnant as miners rally on gold
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The FTSE 100 managed to end the day just below its opening price – making up initial losses. |  |
Thursday, 03, Sep 2009 11:37
The FTSE 100 closed down today – with major losses held back as the miners rallied.
At close of play, the index stood at 4,796.75 – down 20.80 points or 0.43 per cent – after spending much of the day dribbling around the opening price.
Silver and gold miners Fresnillo and Randgold led the way rising 8.96 per cent and 8.59 per cent respectively as the price of gold rose.
Lonmin climbed 5.95 per cent, Xstrata rose 5.52 per cent and Vedanta was up 4.35 per cent.
Outside the top 100 stocks, National Express was up 13.08 per cent, after CVC Capital Partners, aided by major shareholder the Cosmen family, increased its offer on the firm by 11 per cent to £765 million.
Leading the falls Experian was down 3.05 per cent.
Thomas Cook dropped 2.34 per cent, GlaxoSmithKline slid 2.24 per cent, and Unilever slipped 2.22 per cent.
Barclays was down 2.16 per cent.
In the US, at 12:15 EDT the Dow was up 0.30 per cent to 9,308.56. The S&P 500 was up 0.37 per cent.
Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index, said: "Once again, the UK market was struggling for momentum throughout the day and dropped below the break-even point after a choppy start to trading on Wall Street.
"Gains for commodity-based businesses were neutralised by a counterpunch from the consumer goods sector. The price of gold was helped by the general optimism in commodity markets but, more tellingly, was also boosted by risk-averse investors shunning equities."
He added: "The rhetoric of recovery seems to have lost some of its sheen of late; the prospect of the UK lagging behind in the global recovery race, while negotiating a minefield of economic damage – not least wide-scale unemployment – has shaken investors' confidence.
"The fact remains that a significant amount of the blood currently flowing through the veins of the UK economy has come from the Bank of England's stimulus package and this will – sooner or later – have to be withdrawn."
Mr Hughes concluded: "The cloud of uncertainty hovering above equities may have put an end to the raging bull market of the past months."