1/09/02 - London shares close lower weighed down by falls in retailers, oils, telcos
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LONDON, Jan 09, 2002 (AFX-Asia via COMTEX) -- London shares ended the session lower, having spent the whole day in negative territory, as disappointing results from Dixons sparked further profit taking among retailers and with falls in major oils and telecom plays providing a further drag, dealers said.
The FTSE 100 closed 21.9 point weaker at 5228.5, well above an early trough of 5200.7. In sharp contrast the Dow Jones was up 93.55 at 10244.10 at the close while the Nasdaq composite was posting a gain of 37.53 at 2093.27. All the wider indices ended the day weaker, with the exception of the techMark which was slightly higher -- up 1.19 points at 1520.01.
Trading was fairly strong -- swollen by heavy selling of Vodafone and mm02 shares -- with 2.309 bln shares changing hands in 128,808 transactions.
From the outset, the tone among blue chips was negative, with sentiment knocked by falls in heavy weighted oil stocks after news of an 'unsolicited' bid for Enterprise and with retailers providing a further drag after mixed news on consumer spending during the pivotal Christmas period.
With little on on the economic calendar today, players kept their attention on today and Thursday's Bank of England's monetary policy committee meeting. However, pundits predict that rates will be left unchanged amid signs of a robust housing market and a buoyant retail sector. |
