Footsie closes down after subdued session

A subdued session saw the FTSE-100 Index close down as a raft of discouraging economic news.

The European Central Bank's decision not to lower interest rates put a downward pressure on stocks as the Footsie fell 14.9 points to 5788.1.

Average UK earnings figures also rose above expectations, a rise many feel pushes back hopes of a further cut in interest rates by the Bank of England.

Fortunately, markets on Wall Street shrugged off Motorola's worst corporate results for 16 years during early trading in the afternoon. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell back because of profit-taking, the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite sparked ahead 45 points.

The rally helped bolster the Footsie, but analysts expect markets in London to remain choppy until after the Easter break.

A batch of old economy stocks weighed down the market, led by investment bank Schroders, which fell 63p to 955p, while pharmaceutical stocks and household goods producers also suffered. AstraZeneca fell 103p to £33.22 while GlaxoSmithKline dropped 45p to £18.07, Reckitt Benckiser plunged 28p to 915p and Unilever fell 13½p to 497½p.

The stocks fell as investors once more turned towards the new economy, buoyed by an upbeat trading performance from chip designer Arm Holdings.

Arm racked up a 10% increase after saying pre-tax profits for the quarter to March 31 had risen 39% to £11.4 million. It also said it was confident about the next six months - an outlook that helped lift shares by 28p, to 308p.

Software group Misys, was up 31½p at 472p, computer services group Dimension Data, ahead 9½p at 305p, and Logica 43p stronger at 919p. Telecom equipment group Marconi also continued its rally after announcing better than expected trading figures on Tuesday.

Its shares picked up another 6p at 347p.

In other corporate news, retail group GUS surged 12% after recording a 45% leap in second-half sales at its trendy Burberry operation. Its catalogue chain Argos also fared well and the news saw its shares spark up 54p to 501p.