Blue-chip shares fall back as hat-trick of gains ends

THREE days of gains on the London market came to an end yesterday as blue-chip shares fell back.

A spate of downbeat updates and a weak start in the US saw the FTSE 100 Index close down 57.9 points at 4,368.9.

On Wall Street, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-laden Nasdaq were trading lower at London’s close.

Most dealers had predicted a weaker start in the US as investors took profits after recent rallies.

In Britain, a number of poorly performing blue-chips depressed the market.

By the close, AstraZeneca was off 147p at £19.43, while rival GlaxoSmithKline, caught up in the poor sentiment, slipped 34p at £13.36p. Advertising and media group WPP was another heavy faller, off 32p at 468p. It depressed the market by warning it may not match last year’s 14% operating margin and said recovery in its markets was unlikely to come for at least another year. Electrical group Dixons shed 6p at 170p, fashion chain Next fell 26p to 904p, supermarket giant Tesco lost 6p at 223p and Argos-owner GUS was left 12p weaker at 511p.

The biggest risers were Granada, up 5p at 89p, Xstrata, up 30p at 650p, Capita Group, up 12p at 304p and Rolls-Royce, up 4p at 134p.

The heaviest fallers were AstraZeneca, off 147p at £19.43, WPP, off 32p at 468p, Dixons, off 6p at 170p and mmO2, off 1p at 47p.