Trading slow in London

A weak finish on Wall Street depressed trading in London this morning, pulling blue-chip shares lower.

With few major corporate announcements to inspire trading in the US, both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-laden Nasdaq succumbed to profit-taking.

The downbeat closes affected sentiment in London this morning and after an hour’s trading, the FTSE 100 Index had eased 45.2 points at 4045.3.

Insurers were some of the biggest fallers after strong gains yesterday.

Prudential, which saw its majority-owned internet bank Egg launch in France today, fell 14p to 454p, Royal & Sun Alliance shed 3.75p at 105.75p and Aviva lost 11.5p at 494p.

Banks heading south included Royal Bank of Scotland, off 30p at 1498p and Alliance & Leicester, 20p lighter at 860p.

The hi-tech sector was also weaker, with market heavyweight Vodafone off 0.75p at 106.25p and software firm Sage down 5.75p at 140p.

In a busy morning for UK corporate news, however, drinks giant Allied Domecq jumped 12p to 396p after cheering investors with its full-year figures.

The group delivered a 6% increase in annual profits, boosted by a year of acquisitions and marketing activity.

British American Tobacco was another riser, lifting 3.5p at 627p, after the cigarette giant stuck to full-year targets.