Footsie dips after Enron dominates US trading

The FTSE 100 Index has fallen 6.2 points at 5120.8 by mid-morning.

Shares in BSkyB gained 4% after the broadcaster cheered investors with a positive set of figures.

BSkyB is writing off the value of its stake in lossmaking German business KirchPayTV, with a €1.6bn charge.

But investors breathed a sigh of relief that BSkyB would no longer be throwing cash at the costly venture and despite the bottom-line losses, shares leapt 29p at 731p.

The Enron scandal prompted a downbeat end on Wall Street overnight and along with an absence of major corporate updates in London this morning, there was little to inspire traders.

Shell, which disappointed yesterday with below forecast figures, lost a further 4¼p at 476¾p while smaller rival BP shed 2p at 543p.

A number of financial stocks were also on the back foot and Amvescap lost 22p at 840p, Schroders NV shed 9½p at 750p and Prudential fell back 10½p at 727½p.

And troubled engineering group Invensys, which is due to detail an important strategic review later this month, slumped 5¾p at 102¼p to top the Footsie fallers board.

But a clutch of media stocks were gaining along with BSkyB. Granada put on 4½p at 115½p, FT publisher Pearson put on 28p at 758p and news and Reuters was 11½p higher at 599½p.

Lastminute.com jumped 3p at 41p - a 8% surge - after it reported it was inching closer to profitability.