Trading slow in London

The prospect of a downbeat start on Wall Street subdued trading across the London market today.

Most traders were expecting Wall Street to build on yesterday’s losses and open lower later this afternoon, and that dented sentiment in London.

An early surge saw the FTSE 100 Index gallop ahead 72 points but by lunchtime trading was more restrained, with the top flight up just 13.7 points at 3848.9.

Tech stocks were gaining ground, benefiting from US tech giant Oracle posting better-than-expected quarterly earnings after Wall Street closed last night.

Mobile phone giant Vodafone nudged up 1.75p at 112p, rival mmO2 was ahead 1.5p at 46.25p and BT put on 1.25p at 190.5p.

Heavyweight old economy stocks also remained ahead although they were easing back from earlier stronger gains.

Among the banking sector, Lloyds TSB was up 7p at 434.5p, Abbey National climbed 9.5p at 496.5p, Alliance & Leicester was ahead 12p at 744p and HBOS put on 5.5p at 638.5p.

Elsewhere, retailers were holding up despite official figures showing a slow start to Christmas spending.

The data showed retail sales rose 0.1% in November, a slowdown from the 0.7% seen in the previous month.

But Argos-owner GUS added 13.5p at 552p, electrical chain Dixons rose 4.5p at 149.25p and B&Q-to-Comet group Kingfisher put on 6.25p at 211p.

Among stocks making corporate announcements today, however, life insurer Royal & Sun Alliance became the session’s biggest faller so far after dropping 8.75p to 115.75p – a 7% slide.

It named Andy Haste chief executive and John Napier chairman today but some in the City were concerned about Mr Haste’s lack of experience within the insurance sector.

Although joining from AXA Sun Life, where he has been chief executive since 1999, 40-year old Mr Haste spent the bulk of his career at GE Capital and NatWest.

Among smaller stocks, department store chain Allders rose 2.5p to 166p after it recommended investors accept a £158.3 million, or 160p per share, bid involving retail veteran Terry Green.

Cider maker HP Bulmer was also ahead, up 2.5p at 104p, after detailing plans to cut costs and sell its troubled Australian operations.

But Mersey Docks and Harbour fell 58.5p to 458.5p, an 11% slide. It said full-year profits for 2002 would meet analyst forecasts but disappointed investors with a cautious outlook and predictions of only modest profits growth next year.