Footsie falls on Hays

The FTSE 100 Index is down 5.6 points at 5236.4, after hovering around its opening level during morning trading.

The market was depressed by Hays, which saw its shares fall 30¼p to 179¾p after giving a downbeat outlook for the division, while first-half figures for the group as a whole came in below forecast.

Hays' share slide contributed to a downbeat day on the market, as the Footsie's recent surge petered out.

Traders are also expecting a subdued opening from Wall Street, with expectations the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-laden Nasdaq, which both surged yesterday, will open lower.

In London, other stocks trading lower were the media shares.

FTSE 250 firm United Business Media showed operating profits halved last year and it forecast little improvement for its under pressure hi-tech magazine business in the United States. Shares fell 6% - off 35p to 565p.

Blue chip media firms falling included Granada, off 9¼p cheaper at 120¾p, FT publisher Pearson down 33p at 843p and advertising giant WPP off 11½p at 774p.

Pace Micro, which makes set top boxes for digital viewing, also depressed the sector, slumping 57% - off 175p at 129p - after it cut sales forecasts.

Pace, whose major customers include Telewest and debt-laden NTL, blamed turbulence in television markets as cable firms reined back capital spending.

Telewest fell 1¼p to 11¾p. But on the upside, British Airways gained 8p at 238p after a broker upgrade. The group will issue its latest traffic figures this afternoon.