Footsie fails to hit 4200 mark in quiet day’s trading

A LACKLUSTRE session ended on the back foot yesterday as the FTSE 100 Index failed to break the 4200 mark. Blue-chip shares initially pushed ahead but later started to ease.

Heavyweight financial stocks were weighing on the market and with little corporate news to inspire trading, the FTSE 100 closed 53.0 points lower at 4122.2.

Most are expecting a quiet week on Wall Street ahead of the Thanksgiving break on Thursday, and Friday is traditionally the lightest volume day of the year.

In the city, insurer Royal & Sun Alliance and financial service group Old Mutual were two of the heaviest fallers.

R&SA topped the FTSE 100 fallers' board with a 6% drop after Schroder Salomon Smith Barney cut its price target to 100p. Shares fell 8.75p to 132.25p.

Among the banks, Lloyds TSB lost 22p at 544p, Barclays shed 12.75p at 455p and Abbey National drifted 21p to 647p.

Reports over the weekend reiterated growing speculation that Abbey is gearing up to cut dividend payments.

Among the few blue-chips making corporate announcements, engineering group GKN lost 5p at 220.5p

Cigarette giant Imperial Tobacco also got caught up in the gloom, falling 13p to 959p despite reporting full-year results at the top end of expectations. Among smaller stocks, struggling tour operator MyTravel jumped 7p to 33p a 27% hike ahead of its full-year figures tomorrow.