London afternoon: Shares drift lower

Nervousness has returned to the markets following an indecisive start to the day. The UK's leading index has suffered further losses after last week's 200 point slump as investors discussed the potential impact of President Obama's new bank controls.US shares fell heavily last week on the shock plans for the banks, while miners were bashed by China's plans to restrict lending. British American Tobacco, National Grid, GlaxoSmithKline and Scottish & Southern Energy are among the fallers.Anyone holding out hope of a rival bid to the Kraft offer for Cadbury from Ferrero will be disappointed, as the Italian confectionery company confirmed it has no intention of making a bid for the Creme Egg maker.Airline British Airwaysfaces a new ballot by cabin crew on strike action. Wolseley says finance chief Steve Webster is leaving the building materials firm at the end of March and will be replaced by John Martin from UK private equity firm Alchemy Partners. Webster, who oversaw last year's £1bn fundraising and sale of US building supply arm Stock Building Supply for £175m, takes a bow after 15 years at the company. Hornby's sales were 'encouraging' in the weeks up the Christmas and period immediately after, with the model train and racing car group adding it has also largely sorted out the supply issues that have dogged it recently. Shares in Talvivaara jumped after the Finnish metals group said it has reached an agreement to supply 1.25m tonnes of zinc-in-concentrate to Belgium's Nyrstar.Trading in the final quarter of 2009 at engineering data and IT systems provider Aveva was 'satisfactory', leaving the company on track to meet full year targets. Though the marine market has remained becalmed, the oil, gas and power markets have been resilient the world over, benefiting from continuing projects and demand from new economies. Underwriter Hiscox reports its catastrophe losses have remained 'particularly benign' since November with no significant losses in the US and European claims greatly improved. The cold weather sparked a small amount of activity, it added. Engineering conglomerate Lupus Capital said 2009 results are likely to be in line or marginally ahead of market expectations. Total sales for the year are expected to fall 9%, or 17% on a constant currency basis, to £241.6m from £266.6m the year before. 'The group remains cautious as we enter 2010, as trading conditions are not expected to improve rapidly and, despite encouraging recent trading, our end markets remain fragile,' the company said.FTSE 100 - RisersLegal & General Group (LGEN) 79.10p +3.87%Barclays (BARC) 278.50p +2.63%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 128.70p +2.31%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 35.40p +2.08%Lonmin (LMI) 1,871.00p +1.63%British Land Co (BLND) 438.60p +1.53%Wolseley (WOS) 1,440.00p +1.41%Rexam (REX) 301.00p +1.31%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,310.00p +1.24%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,444.50p +1.16%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 265.20p -2.68%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 933.00p -2.25%Reed Elsevier (REL) 506.00p -1.94%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,246.50p -1.85%3i Group (III) 264.70p -1.78%BT Group (BT.A) 140.20p -1.68%SABMiller (SAB) 1,680.00p -1.47%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,244.00p -1.46%Serco Group (SRP) 506.50p -1.46%Vodafone Group (VOD) 133.65p -1.37%FTSE 250 - RisersTalvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 378.20p +7.72%Domino Printing (DNO) 343.00p +4.45%Galiform (GFRM) 82.05p +4.12%Punch Taverns (PUB) 84.15p +3.89%Spirent Communications (SPT) 108.80p +3.62%Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 74.60p +3.61%Computacenter (CCC) 301.70p +3.61%CSR (CSR) 436.50p +3.53%PartyGaming (PRTY) 294.10p +3.01%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 127.40p +2.99%FTSE 250 - FallersTullett Prebon (TLPR) 300.00p -3.26%Close Brothers Group (CBG) 708.00p -2.61%Mothercare (MTC) 628.00p -2.56%Mondi (MNDI) 360.00p -2.33%Bodycote (BOY) 172.60p -2.27%Homeserve (HSV) 1,683.00p -2.26%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 271.20p -2.20%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 214.20p -2.19%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 319.40p -2.17%Stobart Group (STOB) 133.10p -2.13%