Market Wrap, Friday 30th May 2008

The FTSE 100 closed down 14.6 poinst today at 6,053.5, which was down about 58 points off the session’s high, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 48.9 points at 10,049.3. With the FTSE weighted with oil stocks, the drop in oil price affected those heavyweights, as did the fall in commodity prices, with the metal miners all suffering too.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was up just 0.4 points at 12,646.6, whilst the S&P500 was up 2 points at 1,400, and the Nasdaq up 11 poinst at 2,519.5. News from the US government that consumer spending rose in April didn’t cause too much of a stir as it was only in-line with rising costs of food and goods etc.

Back here in Lodnon, it was British Airways that was top of the leader board as the drop in oil price to around US$125 bbl helped the airline recover some ground. BA closed up 17.5p at 232.5p, also on the back of news that busienss airline Silverjet has suspended operations with immediate effect, giving BA one less competitor and those business passengers looking for alternatives.  Peer easyjet closed up 6p at 301p, also on the back of the lower oil price.

Staying with travel, cruise operator Carnival was up again nicely, 53p higher at 1,918p.

on to the bad news, where the oil stocks were those hit the most. RD Shell closed down 40p at 2,105p, Cairn Energy down 53p to 3,366p, BG Group down 28p at 1,266p, and Tullow Oil down 32p at 890p. News that Origin Energy of Austrlia had turned down BG Group’s offer of $15.50 a share didn’t help BG, either.

As mentioned earlier, commodities were down, meaning the metal miners were also down. Copper is now sub US$8,000 per ton, whilst gold was also suffering. BHP Billiton closed down 46p at 1,914, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC) closed down 22p at 1,459, and Rio Tinto closed down 125p at 6,055.

Insurers were in favour, with Friends Provident up 4.1 pence at 121.1, continuing to
pick up from near a 12-month low earlier this week, as takeover speculation continued. Standard Life, meanwhile, took on 8-1/2 pence to 251.

Carrying on from this morning, Johnson Matthey received a Merrill Lynch positive note, closing up 80p at 2,015, after being added to the Merrills favourite Europe 1 list.

DSG International received a Morgan Stanley upgrade to ‘overweight’ from ‘equal-weight’, helping the Currys & PC World owner to close up nearly 2p at 58.25p.