FTSE wobbles after Lloyds TSB maintains dividend

Relief among investors over a positive week for corporate results has failed to translate into a positive start for London shares.

The FTSE 100 Index stood 29.4 points lower at 4127.6 in the first hour of trading after seeing Wall Street markets weaken towards the end of trading in the US.

Banking giant Lloyds TSB led the Footsie fallers board despite keeping its dividend unchanged and announcing a deal to take control of credit card and personal loans at the Goldfish bank.

The bank, which also unveiled a 5% rise in half-year pre-tax profits to £1.68bn (€2.41bn), slipped 15p to 468p in early trading.

British Gas-to-AA group Centrica, which is selling its 70% stake in Goldfish to Lloyds TSB, gained 4.5p to 181.75p.

A clutch of financial stocks joined Lloyds in giving back gains achieved yesterday, with Prudential down 5.5p at 422.5p and Royal & Sun Alliance off 2p at 149.75p.

Outside the Footsie, tour operator MyTravel and steel giant Corus both weakened after announcing the terms of financial restructuring deals.

Corus eased 0.5p to 24.5p while MyTravel, which added a downbeat trading statement to details of its agreement with bondholders, fell 13% or 4.25p to 28.75p.