Market Wrap, Tuesday 8th April 2008

The FTSE closed down 24.6 points today at 5,990.2, which was up about 48 points from the day’s low.  the FTSE 250 closed down 135.8 points at 10,108.7.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down about 13 points at 12,599, whilst the S&P500 was down about 3 points at 1,369, and the Nasdaq down around 7 points at 2,358.  Miner Alcoa and Techie pc chip maker AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) gave 1st quarter results and statement that were not very positive.  US home sales were also down 21% on this time last year, which also didn’t help.

Back here in London, news that house prices were 2.5% lower for march saw the banks and housebuilders get some pressure.  We expect an interest rate cut next time out. The biggest house price monthly fall in 15 years was accompanied by news that the number of mortgages completed in the UK in February was at a record low.  It seems first time buyers aren’t joining the ladder.

The reaction to all this was housebuilder Persimmon closed down 19p on the day at 687p, barratts down 17.5p at 377p, Bovis down 21p at 563.5, and Bellway down 23p at 817.5.

Banks joined the train south with Barclays down over 8p at just shy of 478p, HBOS down 10.5p at 549.5p, and Lloyds TSB down 4.5p at 467. A couple bucked the trend, though, with Alliance & Leicester closing up 6p at 531.5, and Bradford & Bingley closing up 2p at just shy of 190p.  Aliance & Leicester seems to have been heavily sold this year, and now coming off the floor.

The miners did ok today, though, with BHP closing up up 77p at 1,762 n rumours that the Chinese want to raise their stake in BHP.  Rio closed up 61p at 5,901, and Xstrata up 87p at 3,954.

With oil at US$109 bbl the oilers did ok too, RD Shell up 14p at 1,837, and BP up 1.5p at 537.  Tomorrow’s we hear the U.S. fuel stocks figures too, so watch for them.

Sage, the accounting software firm, had the worst day, though, closing down 11.4p at 196.6p as investors felt the tech market could be in for a hard time.

British Airways was down another 9p at 231.5p after the costs of the £4.3 bln Heathrow Terminal 5 debacle were weighed up as well as the cost of the black stuff.  BA spends £2 bln a year on fuel, so a 10% rise in fuel costs could make all the difference to the bottom line.

Our London Stock Exchange (LSE:LSE) closed down 62p at 1,321 as bid hopes were falling off.

Fund manager Schroders shed 27 pence to 1,049, and insurer Standard life dropped 7 pence at 265.

Suger and sweetner firm Tate & Lyle closed down 11.5p at 513.5 after a Credit Suisse downgrade to ‘neutral’ from ‘outperform’ as the bank said it was fully valued, if not overvalued.