FTSE pauses for breath

London’s top-flight shares receded from the 5600 mark today as investors paused for breath in the wake of Friday’s 18-month highs.

Better-than-expected US unemployment figures gave the FTSE 100 Index its late surge last week, while signs that Greece was getting to grips with its debt crisis also boosted sentiment.

But the Footsie was 6.9 points lower at 5592.8 as shares backed away from the highs seen in the previous session.

The falls came despite rises in Asian markets, which were also buoyed by US firms cutting fewer jobs than expected last month. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Japan’s Nikkei showed gains of 2%

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Futures markets signalled a flat opening on Wall Street after the Dow Jones Industrial Average’s 1% advance before the weekend.

In currency trading the pound fell to 1.51 against the US dollar and 1.11 against the euro.

London’s biggest riser was oil firm Petrofac, which gained 4% after a 33% increase in net profits for 2009 was well received. Shares rose 50p to 1122p.

Insurer Prudential fell back, having risen to the top of the winners board in early trade after it said it hedged the dollar cost of the deal to protect itself from a falling pound.

The firm, which was on the back foot last week after unveiling a mega-deal to buy stricken AIG’s Asian arm, lost 0.5p to 519.5p as it said it planned to launch on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Fellow insurer by Legal & General added 1.5p to 77.75p.

The star of the FTSE 250 was Forth Ports – the UK’s biggest listed ports operator – which saw shares surge 24% today after the firm revealed a £612m (€678m) takeover approach by a group of major shareholders.

Forth, which owns seven UK ports, including Tilbury in London, Scotland’s largest container port at Grangemouth, and Leith in Edinburgh, rejected an improved 1340p a share proposal from the consortium and said the price “fell far short” of the value of the business.

Also in the second tier, Bovis Homes returned to profit with a £4.8m (€5.3m) surplus for 2009 but the results were a little short of City hopes and shares slipped 3.8p to 377.5p.