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Footsie runs into sellers again as market volumes decline

The FTSE 100 index again ran into selling today as the focus remained on the beaten down stocks for which there was little respite, but volumes were low given the day off in the US. Bradford & Bingley fell again as leading shareholders had to step in and rescue its £400m fund raising after US private equity group Texas Pacific walked away.

 Marks & Spencer was also weak again on worries over its trading this year. Goldman Sachs yesterday cut its rating on Marks to "neutral" from "buy" after it reported a fall in Q1 like-for-like sales, and we are happy to remain short here with a 30% profit so far on our latest recommendation.

Over in the oil & gas sector, Origin Energy advised shareholders to reject a $13.1bn bid from BG Group, for which the latter brought out a predictably frosty response with regard to the options available to Origin. The market seems unsure as yet what will happen next, and with the shares almost unchanged, they are best left alone for the moment.

BHP Billiton has now reached an agreement with China's Baosteel on the price for iron ore deliveries for the contract year starting 1 April 2008. This followed on from Rio Tinto’s doubling of ore prices recently and with a matching price rise, the market is satisfied here, though again we would not chase these shares at present.



Head of Research at Blue Index, specialists in trading Contracts For Difference
04/07/2008

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