Market Wrap, Thursday 13th March 2008

The FTSE closed down 84 points today at 5,692.4, which was up about 65 points on the session’s low. The FTSE 250 closed down 187.9 points at 9,801.5.

By the time London closed, over the pond the DJI was down about 62 points at 12,046, with the Feds (House Financial Services Committe) now saying that they will help slow down the house re-pos, which would mean the Feds guaranteeing remortgaged properties. The word ‘desperation’ comes to mind.

Back here in London, it was a building supplier that had the worst day, as Wolseley closed down 6%, or 37p, at 550p after a double-broker downgrade to ’sell’, with Goldman Sachs expressing concern on earnings for this current year.

Oil continued to be strong, which didn’t do British Airways much good. BAY.L was down to 230.5p today, off 12p on the session, as the cost of this year’s fuel gets worse and worse. No doubt the airline will introduce many other savings across the in-house board, with many cuts in other departments, but the rising cost of fuel is going to be hard to offset, never mind match. Peers didn’t like the oil price of US$108 bbl, either, as easyJet also fell, off 20.5p at 396p.

The banks were turning down again, with HBOS down 16p at 562p, RBS down 16.5p at 342.5p, and Lloyds TSB down 14p to 430. News that the London-based fund Carlyle Capital had failed yesterday didn’t help the sector. Apparently the fund’s creditors will seize all of the fund’s remaining assets after unsuccessful negotiations to prevent its liquidation.

Mining giant Kazakhmys closed down 35p at 1,744, falling back some of its massive 16% leap yesterday, as it confirmed there had been no formal merger proposal from ENRC, which we spoke about yesterday. Peers were also down, with fellow copper miner Anto down 6p at 754p, and Anglo down 43p at 3,130. But Xstrata was up 68p at 3,921 on another reversal of rumour/speculation/etc on Brazilian major Vale coming in for a bid. 42-quid is the figure being banted around, which is down from the 45-quid mentioned on the floors last week, but still well up on the current traded price. This sector is a long-term hold. Buying on serious dips can only be a good thing, as the world’s minerals become more and more required.

Unilever was up 51p at 1,651 as it was considered somewhwere fairly safe to plant some cash from sales elsewhere, it seems. British American Tobacco was up 25p at 1,958 on similar reasons, it also seems.

Tonmorrow is another day.