FTSE shares drift

Shares in London drifted lower today as a shortage of economic and corporate data left investors with little to cheer.

The FTSE 100 Index opened 22 points higher, but sank 7.6 points below the previous close to 6147.8 by mid-morning.

Much of the attention was on takeover target Corus once again while softening oil prices weighed on the market.

The lacklustre start to the week followed a strong performance in recent sessions which has seen the Footsie return to levels not seen since February 2001.

Among the stocks on the slide was Corus after a weekend of speculation over whether there will be a bid to counter the 455p a share offer from Tata Steel.

Shares lifted in early trading but sank a penny below their opening mark to 473.5p as investors pondered the chances of a rival bid.

The Tata offer valued Corus at £4.3bn (€6.4bn) and investors are now hoping for an improved offer with Brazilian firm CSN and Russian group Novolipetsk said to be interested.

Oil stocks were on the slide after the price of a barrel of crude fell below $57 (€45). BP drifted 4.5p down while Royal Dutch Shell was off 13p to 1804p.

However, the lower cost of oil gave British Airways a boost as its shares lifted 9.25p to 458.25p.

And speculation that a Dubai-based group Istithmar may raise its stake in Standard Chartered to 20% lifted shares in the bank by 39p to 1464p.

British Energy again weighed on the market as investors continued to digest news that cracks on tubes could lead to further shutdowns at its nuclear reactors. The stock fell 24% in one day last week when it broke the news to the City and it drifted a further 3.5p lower to 444.5p today.