FTSE in the red

The FTSE 100 Index slid into the red today weighed down by under-pressure oil stocks and inflationary fears returning to haunt investors.

With yesterday’s rally on Wall Street overshadowed by concern for the US economy, European markets also took fright and the Footsie lost 18.5 points to stand at 5852.4 by mid-morning.

Heavily-weighted oil stocks took a hit as prices fell towards $73 a barrel. Royal Dutch Shell slipped 15p to 1911p while BP lost 4p to 612p.

And financial stocks were also in retreat with HSBC off 8p to 953.5p, Royal Bank of Scotland down 3p to 1757p and Lloyds TSB and HBOS losing half a penny each to 514p and 979.5p respectively.

British Airways was in trouble again following positive moves yesterday. As the airline cancelled 41 flights at Heathrow and 11 at Gatwick in the wake of the terror alert shares fell 3p to 374p. Budget airline easyJet lost 10p to 403.25p.

Drug maker Shire shot to the top of the leaders board with a gain of 5% - 39.5p to 921p – after it said it had settled pending litigation with Barr over a generic copy of Shire’s key Adderall treatment for attention deficit.

The UK’s second largest property company British Land fell 8p to 1368p after it warned that the market for warehousing and office space was slowing down despite reporting a 7.1% rise in net asset value. Its rival and market leader Land Securities gained 2p to 1950p.

In the second flight, property services group Countrywide gained 4.25p to 406p after it steered its estate agency division back into the black as the housing market returned to more normal trends over the last year.

The division turned last year’s half-year operating loss of £6.4m (€9.5m) into profits of £19m (€28.2m) in the six months to June 30.