London trading dips on US news

Weak technology stocks and downbeat news from the US have dented London trading.

A 3% surge from GlaxoSmithKline has failed to boost the FTSE 100 Index as the City braces itself for heavy falls on Wall Street this afternoon.

After hovering around its opening price, by lunchtime the Footsie was near its lowest point of the session so far, off 23.6 points at 5114.8.

Analysts said the Dow Jones Industrial Average in the US could lose 100 points early on as investors react to a gloomy forecast from Microsoft last night.

The company said it had yet to see an upturn in many of its markets, and its update came after IBM reported a 13% fall in fourth-quarter net income.

The double-blow led to continued falls among tech stocks in London today, with Arm Holdings off 3%, or 11p at 314p.

Logica was down 8%, or 47p to 563p with City broker Charles Stanley advising investors to sell the stock on fears about growth.

Sage was also off, 5¾p at 235¼p, while among the telecoms Vodafone was down 1½p to 164p.

Rival mmO2 fared slightly better, up ½p at 86¾p but BT Group edged 1¼p lower to 241½p and Cable & Wireless fell 6¾p to 312¼p

Supermarkets were also on the slide after a busy week of Christmas updates, with Tesco 6¼p lower at 231½p and Sainsbury down 7p at 374p.