Footsie down in early trading

The London market compounded its losses today as concerns about Vodafone’s outlook continued to weigh on investors.

The FTSE 100 Index slipped further by mid-morning to stand 10.6 points down at 4979.2.

Vodafone released better then expected full year earnings, but stressed concerns about growth in areas such as Asia.

Shares in the Newbury-based phone giant lost 4% or 6p to 140.5p and rival O2 followed suit, shedding 2p to 124.75p.

On a busy day for corporate news, Marks & Spencer also grabbed the headlines by announcing a 19% drop in underlying full year profits and a challenging outlook. Shares gained nearly 2% or 6.25p to 343.25p, however, as investors expressed relief that M&S did not warn on profits.

The London market failed to take comfort from a good performance in the US last night, where the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed nearly 52 points ahead.

Surging technology shares prompted more buying on Wall Street as investors welcomed analysts upgrades and Apple Computer’s reported talks to use Intel chips in its computers. Analysts were forecasting the Dow to open 17 points down today.

Back in London, publishing group Emap was second in the top flight risers after reporting a good start to the year despite a 41% decline in profits and tough trading in France. Shares lifted 24p to 789p.

Scottish Power made it to the top of the pile with a 27.75p gain to 469.75p after announcing the sale of its US arm PacifiCorp for £9.4 billion US dollars, with nearly half that being returned to shareholders. Rival Scottish & Southern Energy added 11p to 976p.

Miners were doing well as one broker talked up Xstrata’s trading prospects and rumours continued to circulate about a bid to counter BHP Billiton’s offer for Australian group WMC. Shares in BHP jumped 8.5p to 646.5p while RioTinto was up 20p at 1624p and Xstrata lifted 10p to 970p.