Little Christmas cheer as blue chips take a tumble

FEARS of a subdued Christmas on the high street dampened spirits in the City yesterday as the FTSE 100 Index came back to earth with a bump.

Just a day after an encouraging 106 point rally, the Footsie tumbled 75.3 points to 3908.7 as a number of blue-chip retailers lost ground.

A subdued start to trading on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped early on, did little to improve the mood.

But investors in London were nervy from the off after computer games retailer Game issued a profits warning and sent a chill through the sector.

And a host of top flight retailers fell back with Dixons suffering dropping nearly 6%, or 9.25p to 150p.

Rival Kingfisher, which owns the Comet chain, fell 9p at 212p while elsewhere Next was off 32p to 745p and Marks & Spencer dropped 8p to 316p.

Barclays fell 6.5p to 391p, Lloyds TSB eased 15p to 442p, and HBOS slipped 12p to 635p.Sentiment was not helped by news Royal Bank of Scotland had been fined £750,000 by the Financial Services Authority for money laundering control failings.

The biggest risers were Cable & Wireless, up 3.75p at 49.5p, BSkyB, up 31.5p at 658p, BHP Billiton, up 7.5p at 330p and Brambles, up 2.25p at 142p.

The heaviest fallers were Bunzl, down 38p at 393p, Capita, off 17.5p at 238.5p, Granada, down 5p at 80p and Dixons, off 9.25p at 150p.