FTSE steady despite construction sector jitters

Taylor Wimpey shares declined 6% today after the UK’s biggest housebuilder failed to end uncertainty about its financial position.

As well as announcing £1.5 billion of valuation write downs, Taylor Wimpey said it was still in talks with banks about overhauling its debt burden of £1.7 billion.

The news unsettled housebuilding shares, but the rest of the London market was steady after a resilient session on Wall Street last night. By mid-morning, the FTSE 100 Index stood 6.6 points lower at 5464.1, helped by stronger commodity-focused stocks.

Oil and gas services firm Petrofac set the pace, up 25.5p to 618p, after half-year net profits jumped 57% and it said it was confident of meeting full-year forecasts.

Security business G4S was another company to benefit from the release of half-year results. It saw shares jump 10.75p to 222.25p after it reported a 26% rise in interim profits.

In the FTSE 250 Index, Taylor Wimpey fell 2.75p to 49.25p after the UK’s biggest housebuilder by volume said first-half underlying profits dived 96% to £4.3 million and it reported bottom-line losses of £1.54 billion.

It was joined on the fallers board by Bellway after a drop of 21.5p to 581p.

Newspaper publisher Johnston Press was also under pressure, down 3p at 48p, after axing its half-year dividend and reporting a deteriorating trend for advertising revenues.

William Hill and Ladbrokes were both on a losing streak after Irish rival Paddy Power cut its profit guidance for 2008 due to recent sporting results and weakening trading conditions in the UK and Ireland.

The update spooked investors with William Hill down 17.25p at 267.75p and Ladbrokes 9.75p lower at 216.75p.

Meanwhile, Moneysupermarket.com was unchanged at 76.5p, even though it painted a tougher picture for trading in the third quarter.