London close: Afternoon rally fizzles out

The Chancellor's pre-Budget Report speech had little effect on UK equities, with much of its content widely expected while others subscribed to the view espoused by the Shadow Chancellor that it was more of a 'pre-election report' than a pre-Budget report.As expected, banks that pay excessive bonuses attracted the ire of the Chancellor, but banking shares were more troubled by fears of the spread of sovereign debt downgrades. Today it was the turn of Spain to have its credit rating downgraded, following on from Greece yesterday. Barclays was one of the major fallers while elsewhere in the sector Royal Bank of Scotland surrendered early gains. Emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered, however, made ground after an initially cautious welcome to its trading update. The bank is on course for a record year with a strong performance in wholesale banking offsetting lower income in consumer banking, while its exposure to Dubai is not 'material'.Mining giant BHP Billiton eased a little despite the news that it has sold its Ravensthorpe nickel mine in Western Australia to Canada's First Quantum Minerals for US$340m. Hedge fund manager Man was under the cosh pence after the net asset value of its flagship fund, Man AHL Diversified Futures, dived 4.3% in the week ended Dec. 7.Easyjet chief executive Andy Harrison is to stand down from the no-frills airline next June. In a statement, Easyjet said Harrison had indicated his desire to leave the company in order to seek new challenges. Boardroom strife has been dogging the airline for months after founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou launched a fierce attack on the board's strategy.Over at Easyjet's Irish rival, Aer Lingus, Sean Coyle is to quit as chief financial officer and head of short haul operations by mutual agreement at the end of December 2009 to pursue other interests.Pre-tax profits fell by more than a quarter at Stagecoach in the six months to October 31 after the rail and bus group was squeezed by reduced demand from recession hit travellers and high fuel costs. Figures were ahead of expectations, however, with profit before taxation down to £75.5m from £105.2m the previous year as revenues edged up to £1.08m from £1.05m.Defence and aerospace group Cobham has won a A$170m (£95m) contract to provide flights in support of the US oil company Chevron's operations in Western Australia.Spread bet firm IG Group expects report revenue of around £143m (2009: £126.5m) and adjusted profit before tax of around £77m (2009: £58.2m) for the first half of the year, but costs will be higher in the second half. Soaring demand for technology such as in-car navigation and mobile phones sent revenues and profits soaring at the chip designer Imagination Technologies in the six months to 31 October. A better than expected contribution from recent acquisitions Borland and Compuware enable legacy software specialist Micro Focus to lift underlying interim profits by 35% and predict a further improvement in profitability over the rest of the year. Department store group Debenhams is wanted after Merrill Lynch upgraded the stock to 'buy'. Adverse broker comment about yesterday's disappointing results sees video games retailer Game Group hammered again today. Shares Condor Resources slumped after the Central America-focused gold and silver miner began legal proceedings against the El Salvador government over its failure to respond to Condor's applications to renew its two mining licenses in the country.Pan Andean gained on news that the oil and gas group received a £18m takeover offer from Toronto-listed peer Petrominerales. Petrominerales has offered to buy the shares for 15 pence each plus one share of Hydrocarbon Exploration for every one Pan Andean share held.Mobile computer software firm Psion pulls out of the slump it has been in since its mid-November trading update after Charles Stanley initiated coverage of the stock with a 'buy' recommendation.Recruitment software provider Bond International has become a victim of rising unemployment, as it has seen a tailing off in orders in the last couple of months, while implementations in progress have been subject to delays.Finance consultancy SMS Finance has stepped up its pursuit of music and media business MAMA Group with an increased offer of 4.75p per share. Previously SMS Finance, which has a 29.8% stake in MAMA, had offered 3.7p per share.FTSE 100 - RisersSEGRO (SGRO) 333.30p +3.67%Xstrata (XTA) 1,054.00p +1.93%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,462.00p +1.74%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,140.00p +1.72%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 54.69p +1.71%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 883.50p +1.49%Schroders (SDR) 1,174.00p +1.03%Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,992.00p +0.89%Burberry Group (BRBY) 568.50p +0.80%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,887.00p +0.75%FTSE 100 - FallersOld Mutual (OML) 104.00p -5.63%Man Group (EMG) 304.30p -3.92%Fresnillo (FRES) 793.00p -3.29%Barclays (BARC) 278.10p -3.27%Resolution (RSL) 78.30p -3.15%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 74.55p -2.93%Tesco (TSCO) 414.65p -2.54%SABMiller (SAB) 1,775.00p -2.47%3i Group (III) 269.90p -2.25%Rexam (REX) 274.20p -2.21%