Rate fears hit FTSE

The London market is on the back foot after overnight falls on Wall Street and continued interest rate fears hit blue chip stocks.

Retail and property firms suffered the biggest falls after investor nerves were tested following Wednesday's 146 point drop on the Dow Jones Industrial Average and news the Bank of England was only a whisker away from hiking rates this month.

The FTSE 100 Index closed down 53.3 points at 6596 after a bruising session.

Currys owner DSG International was the biggest faller of the day, dipping 6.7p to 162.8p after results on Wednesday caused disappointment in the City. Profits were down to £114.1m (€169.7m), less than half the previous year's £295.9m (€169.7m).

Home Retail Group, owner of Argos and Homebase, was also off, down 11.25p at 439p and B&Q owner Kingfisher dropped 3.5p to 229.5p, while high street chain Next eased 39p to 2061p and supermarket Morrisons dived 5.75p to 287p.

Among the real estate fallers, Land Securities was the worst impacted, down 62p to 1730p, followed by British Land, which fell 39p to 1344p and Segro - formerly Slough Estates - down 17p to 655p.

The weakness for the Footsie came despite rising oil prices, which remain close to 70 US dollars a barrel, helping give energy companies a boost. Royal Dutch Shell rose 11p to 2047p, although BP gave back gains made earlier in the day, off 2p at 579.5p.

Standard Chartered led the risers board after two broker upgrades, from HSBC and UBS. Shares were up 17p at 1675p.

In the second tier, shares in engineer Weir jumped 11% after it agreed a £328m (€487.8m) deal to buy a Texas-based oil equipment specialist.

Analysts described the acquisition as an "excellent" deal for Weir, causing its shares to increase 67.5p to 701.5p. Transport group Go-Ahead rose 41p to 2435p after its rail joint venture Govia secured the new West Midlands rail franchise.