FTSE sees dip

Investors turned up the heat on British Energy today after the nuclear power generator revealed output levels had fallen below hopes.

Shares in the blue-chip stock slipped 6%, even though the company posted better-than-expected profits for the first quarter of its financial year.

The rest of the London market was also under pressure, with the FTSE 100 Index down 42.9 points at 5855 by mid-morning.

Banking stocks were among those lower, while the impact of a number of stocks going ex-dividend was also felt by investors.

Shares in British Energy topped the blue-chip fallers board with losses of 45.5p to 706p, as it warned it was likely to miss its annual output target because of continued problems with plant reliability.

British Energy was followed down by BT which lost 6.75p to 234p after it went ex-dividend, meaning investor lost the right to the most recent payout. Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland were also hurt by a similar factor with losses of 7.5p to 648.5p and 23p to 1749p respectively.

But miners recovered after yesterday’s losses amid signs the pause in interest rate hikes in the United States may last a little longer. Rio Tinto lifted 24p to 2719p and was followed towards the top of the Footsore leaderboard by Strata, which gained 19p to 2225p.

In the FTSE 250 Index, attention turned to engineering group Carillon after it emerged that its rail arm had been suspended from bidding for any new business until its workforce safety performance improved. Shares initially fell 3% but were later unchanged at 304.75p.

Fellow engineering company Balfour Beatty was up 11p to 363.25p, as investors welcomed strong half-year results, including a 15% rise in half-year profits and a record £8.8bn (€13bn) order book.