UK: Electric stocks plunge

Currys and PC World owner DSG International shed 17% today as the beleaguered stock’s recent share price rally came to a juddering halt.

The decline for second-tier DSG capped a dismal session for retailers as confidence in the sector remained fragile, particularly in the wake of a pessimistic Bank of England report on the UK economy.

Heavyweight banking stocks were also under pressure, causing the FTSE 100 Index to lose 21.4 points at 5513.1 by mid-morning.

A near-140 point fall overnight on America’s Dow Jones Industrial Average set the tone for trading in London. That was after yesterday’s credit crunch losses from banking giants UBS and JP Morgan reignited concerns about further pain for UK counterparts.

Barclays was one of the sector’s biggest share fallers, down 3%, or 11.75p at 366.75p, with HBOS, off 16.75p at 314.25p.

The tone of the Bank of England’s quarterly inflation report did little for consumer confidence expectations, with analysts believing that the Bank’s projections ruled out interest rate cuts for some time.

Housebuilders were impacted with Barratt Developments down 20.25p at 139.75p, a drop of 13% after recent gains. Persimmon followed with a dip of 29.25p to 360p, while among pub firms Punch Taverns shed 38.25p to 329.75p.

B&Q owner Kingfisher led the dismal session for retailers, dropping a further 8% or 11.1p to 127.3p. Marks & Spencer was close behind after shares fell 21.25p to 274.75p.

DSG International plunged by 11p to 53.75p after analysts from JP Morgan and Pali International said its recent gains looked overdone.

Back in the top flight, miners helped limited losses on the market as gold prices rose. Anglo American was up 129p at 2808p while Vedanta Resources added 81p to 1780p and Kazakhmys rose 49p to 1215p.