National Grid shares boost Footsie

National Grid shares jumped more than 6% today as it outlined plans to demerge its broadcast and telephone masts arm and return cash to shareholders.

With half-year profits also ahead of expectations, the utility stock made an uncharacteristic jump of 42p to 740p.

Nervousness ahead of inflation figures in the United States put pressure on the wider London market, with the FTSE 100 Index treading water – 0.5 points higher at 6230.3 by mid-morning.

Miners led the fallers after Vedanta Resources dropped 52p to 1334p and Xstrata eased 19p to 2230p. The drop for Vedanta came as it said it was diversifying into the power business with a deal to set up a plant in India.

There was also disappointment at a trading update from Reed Elsevier, even though the publisher said its performance was in line with expectations. The stock was 22.5p lower at 578p, amid market concerns about the strength of trading at its education arm.

Alliance Boots was another top flight faller, down 9p to 811p, as this week’s results from the recently merged pharmaceutical company prompted Deutsche Bank to downgrade its rating to hold from buy.

The views of Deutsche also had an impact on the second tier after an upgrade for Northern Foods coincided with a 10% jump in its share price. Amid signs of encouragement from results this week, Northern shares rose 9.25p to 103p.

Ladbrokes fell sharply after it reported a slowdown in winnings following a run of bad results in football and racing last month. Shares were 5% lower at 392.5p after a drop of 22.5p.

William Hill was dragged lower by the update, falling 15p to 641p.

Among other fallers in the FTSE 250 Index, London Stock Exchange continued to struggle after it emerged earlier in the week that leading banks planned to launch a rival equity platform. Shares fell 6% yesterday and were down another 2% – 30p to 1204p – today.