Steadier day on FTSE

The London market hung on to most of the near-5% rise seen in its previous session today as insurance stocks kept up their momentum.

The FTSE 100 Index finished 21.4 points down at 3693.8 in a steadier day of trading after Tuesday’s stellar advance. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat early on as Wall Street also paused for breath.

The leading Footsie riser was Legal & General up more than 8% or 2.2p to 28.9p, followed closely by former Norwich Union insurer Aviva – which added 16.2p to 213.5p.

Prudential and Old Mutual also consolidated gains – advancing 8.75p to 259.25p and 1.5p to 37p respectively – as the sector recovers ground lost in recent weeks amid fears over capital positions and short-selling.

The market rally has also been driven by a more positive view of prospects in the banking sector after recent share price losses, as well as news of better trading at US giant Citigroup.

The sector saw a more mixed session today, with Barclays up 2.5p to 70p and Royal Bank of Scotland adding 0.2p to 21.2p.

But Lloyds Banking Group was the leading Footsie faller as investors took advantage of yesterday’s surge to get out of the part-nationalised bank. The stock was 12% lower, or 6.3p, at 44.5p.

HSBC also gave up some of the rise seen in yesterday’s rebound, down 7% or 25p to 374p. The bank had been significantly sold-off after announcing a £12.5bn (€13.5bn) investor cash call last week – with a sharp fall in Asian trading on Monday now the subject of an investigation by the Hong Kong securities regulator.

Other notable moves in the top flight included British American Tobacco, which fell 108p to 1706p after Investec Securities cut its price target. This dragged down Lambert & Butler maker Imperial Tobacco, which closed 26p lower at 1631p.

Vodafone fell 4.6p to 115.75p despite the mobile phone giant signing a deal with major record companies to sell music without anti-piracy protection.

In the FTSE 250, property services firm Savills fell almost 9% or 22p to 230p after posting annual losses of £7.7m (€8.32m) and announcing a cut to its full-year dividend.

Elsewhere, regional newspaper group Johnston Press fell by 27% or 2.1p to 5.62p after it posted a dire set of annual results and said advertising revenues were down by 36% in the year to date.