Media stocks and banks under pressure

The FTSE-100 Index was off 22.3 point at 5255.8 at mid-morning as investors reaped the rewards of recent gains.

Financial Times publisher Pearson has slipped 25p to 865p; EMI has shed 5½p at 283½p; and Granada is 2¾p weaker at 152¾p.

Barclays is down 40p at £21.60; Royal Bank of Scotland has fallen 35p at £16.79; and fund managers Amvescap and Schroders NV have lost 17½p at 957½p and 13p at 715p respectively.

Tech stocks feeling the pinch include software group Sage, down 5½p at 233p; chip designer ARM Holdoings, off 7¾p at 383¼p; Vodafone, 1p lower at 179p; and Cable & Wireless, which is down 8¼p at 339¾p.

But BT is having a better time, rising 7¾p to 332¾p. Conditional trading by institutional investors in its soon-to-be demerged mobile phone arm mmO2 began today, and its shares jumped ahead - valuing it at around £6.5bn.

BP and Shell were up 8p at 564p and 6½p ahead at 515½p respectively amid speculation that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will cut production levels when it meets next week.

Shares in online auction house QXL Ricardo have gained 12% or ½p to 4.7p after announcing a change at the helm and reduced losses.

But business services group Brammer is down 19% or 61p at 256½p after warning that full-year profits will fall below expectations.