Footsie sheds five points

Investors lost their appetite for Greggs shares today after the high street baker warned it faced a difficult year.

Shares slumped 10% – off 470p at 4133p – following cautious comments from the group about rising energy costs and the impact of increased competition.

The developments at second-tier Greggs drew the attention of investors on an otherwise lacklustre session for major corporate news, with the FTSE 100 Index treading water at just five points lower at 5850.9 by mid-morning.

Miners proved to be a drag on the market as a turbulent week for the sector closed with falls of 48p to 2575p for RioTinto and 24p to 1948p for Anglo American. Antofagasta dipped 19p to 1955p.

Going in the other direction was BAA as the airports operator put back losses from yesterday and continued to gather strength on hopes of an imminent takeover offer from Spanish infrastructure operator Ferrovial. The stock rose 3% or 27p to 802p.

Another long-running takeover saga also generated fresh buying interest after Lloyds TSB shares rose 1% on a report that UBS had been appointed adviser to a major European bank looking to launch an acquisition. That put Lloyds in the frame and left its shares 6.5p higher at 537.5p.

The rest of the banking sector failed to follow suit with Royal Bank of Scotland down 17p at 1833p and HBOS off 3p at 984p.

Halifax owner HBOS is one of the shareholders of Rightmove, but the better-than-expected listing of 18% of the property website’s shares failed to boost the high street bank.

Rightmove made its debut on the market at 335p but shares were later trading at 391p, giving the business a value approaching £500 million – far higher than expectations at the start of the year for a value of around £200 million.