London close: Footsie dives as miners reverse course

The decline of the Footsie gathered pace in the final hour as miners, which had provided some measure of support for the blue-chip index for most of the day, turned lower. As global equity markets continue to retreat life assurance stocks were the main losers. Aviva, Legal & General and Prudential.were the main casualties in the sector. Aviva was the subject of rumours that it will cut its dividend when it next declares results but given that the share price slumped in march when it announced a maintained dividend it is not clear whether the rumour was a positive or negative influence on the stock.Fears that Marks & Spencer's executive chairman Sir Stuart Rose would suffer a humiliating though not binding defeat at the company's AGM proved unfounded. A special resolution put forward by the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum calling for the M&S board to appoint an independent chairman by July 2010, which would be a year earlier than planned, received support from 37.7% of shareholders, barely more than half the 75% needed for the motion to be carried.Struggling private equity group 3i halved its debt in the three months to June, largely due to its £732m rights issue. Realisation proceeds outweighed new investment as it stopped putting money into its portfolio companies. Net debt at end June was £961m, compared with £1.91bn at March 2009.Support services group Carillion remains on track to deliver 'materially enhanced' earnings for the full year after good performances across its divisions.The support services division continues to make the largest contribution to operating profit, the firm said.Oil and gas firm Melrose Resources is proceeding as expected at its oil and gas fields in Egypt, although recent government elections have held things up in Bulgaria. Production averaged approximately 16,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) on a net entitlement basis versus current guidance of 15,700 boepd.Facilities and energy management solutions provider GSH Group warns that larger than expected non-recurring costs will leave full-year profit even further below forecasts. The company, which also confirmed it will de-list its shares on 10 August, said closure costs linked to a restructuring would likely double to £3m.Pure Circle, the maker of high intensity sweeteners used in a range of well known soft drinks, expects to report an 85% jump in sales in 2009 after gaining several high profile customers.Cash and carry group Booker said profits and net debt remain in line with expectations after seeing total sales rise by 7.8% in the 12 weeks to 19 June.Degradable plastics and waste-to-energy outfit Symphony Environmental Technologies topped expectations at the half-year stage, it said today. Revenue for the six months ended 30 June 2009, due to be confirmed on 10 September, rose 59% to £3.65m from £2.3m a year earlier.Mobile email and data synchronisation provider Synchronica has won a contract with an undisclosed mobile operator for an initial 50,000 user license of its mobile email product Mobile Gateway.IT services group Morse has confirmed it has received preliminary approaches at 25p per share, which the board believes significantly undervalues the company.Phorm, the Internet advertising technology firm, received another blow when TalkTalk, the Internet service provider owned by Carphone Warehouse, closed the door on using Phorm's Webwise product. FTSE 100 - RisersGlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,086.00p +1.54%Next (NXT) 1,531.00p +0.86%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,600.00p +0.76%Vodafone Group (VOD) 115.20p +0.66%FTSE 100 - FallersLegal & General Group (LGEN) 49.78p -8.66%Aviva (AV.) 303.00p -8.46%Prudential (PRU) 370.00p -6.33%British Land Co (BLND) 355.50p -5.95%