FTSE closes at low-point of the day as miners rally fades

At the close of play, the FTSE100 was down 55.05 points at 5,190.68 with the FTSE250 off 113.1 points at 8,918.44 and the FTSE Smallcaps 12.51 points lower at 2,717.81.

NEW YORK

US stocks moved lower in late morning trade investors disappointed with lacklustre Black Friday sales numbers.

Approaching the close in London, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 11 points at 10,299, the S&P500 lost 2 points at 1,090 and the Nasdaq Composite edged down 10 points at 2,129.

LONDON MARKETS

Weakness in the financial sector and a poor showing from commodity issues ensured that London markets closed the last session of the month firmly in the red.

Banking shares remained lower in reaction to a tumbling Dubai bourse, with Lloyds Banking Group the worst performer in the FTSE100, down 3.45p at 55.15p, Royal Bank of Scotland fell 1.55p at 33.18p and Barclays edged down 5.5p at 292.35p. However, HSBC bucked the trend, adding 0.7p at 707p.

Aberdeen Asset Management provided another rare bright light in financial circles, rising 0.9p at 139.9p after reporting that assets under management increased to 146.2bn in the year to end-September, thanks largely to its acquisition of Credit Suisse assets earlier in the year. Profits, meanwhile, slumped 20%.

Mining shares staged a brief recovery midafteroon but it quickly petered out, although ENRC jumped to the top of the leaderboard following an upgrade to outperform at Credit Suisse with the target price raised to 1,100p. ENRC shares added 16p at 861.5p in response.

Anglo American was the only other gainer in the sector, up 15p at 2,603p.

Others in the sector posted modest losses, with Lonmin the worst hit, down 8p at 1,775p. BHP Billiton fell 6.5p at 1,857.5p and Randgold Resources dropped 10p at 5,155p as gold settled around $1,175p an ounce.

Oil producers slipped as crude headed towards $76 a barrel and on fears of another slump in demand, with BP off 9.2p at 574.6p, Shell 32p lower at 1,737p and BG Group down 23p at 1,103p.

Commercial property also fell out of favour on reports that the sector was overvalued, with British Land sliding 14.4p at 445.4p, Liberty International off 16.5p at 465.5p and Segro, down 11.9p at 325.5p, the weakest links.

Holiday firm Thomas Cook surrendered early gains to profit-takers to close down 4.2p at 212p, after revealing full-year profits ahead of expectations. Thomas Cook reported adjusted pretax profit of 308.2m, down slightly from 309.3m the previous year, but sales rose to 9.27bn from 8.75bn in the period.

Peer TUI Travel, which owns the Thomson operation, added 2.2p at 245.9p on the read across and ahead of its own results tomorrow.

Other notable gainers included British Airways, up 1.5p at 195.3p, while specialist engineer Smiths Group enjoyed being started at Citigroup with a buy rating and 1,100p price target, gaining 1.5p at 954p, and water company Severn Trent made progress on continued enthusiasm over its numbers last week, ahead 10p at 1,050p.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire