London close: Late decline wipes out gains

Footsie ended lower having spent most of the day in positive territory. Financials led the market down and cruise operator Carnival's lower quarterly profit did not help. Most of the miners ended the day higher but they lost some of their earlier gains. Having been hit hard yesterday following the Basel Committee report, banks are on the back foot again today. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds all fall back, with Lloyds sliding despite JPMorgan Chase bumping its price target for the stock by 10% and Exane BNP Paribas upgrading the shares from 'neutral' to 'outperform'. Demand for oil stocks was boosted by reports of Iranian troops marching over the Iraqi border and laying claim to a dormant oilfield, but the story has subsequently been denied by Iraq's deputy Minister of the Interior, Ahmed Ali al-Khafaji, who said the field, which is on the Iran-Iraq border, has been 'neglected by both sides'. Goldman Sachs also gave a lift to the oil sector, tipping BP as the 'clear winner' among oil companies next year, though it also rates UK operators BG and Royal Dutch Shell over their continental European counterparts Total, ENI and Repsol. BP is upgraded to 'buy' by the influential US bank while Shell is rated as a 'conviction buy' and BG a 'buy'. Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and Vedanta catch the eye in a buoyant mining sector. Knee and hip joint supplier Smith & Nephew rose after UBS bumped up its price target for the stock. Port operator Forth Ports said it expects full year results to be at the lower end of expectations due to weak trading in its Nordic recycling division and in its container services operations at Tilbury port near London. In contrast, temporary power supplier Aggreko says trading has been better than expected during the last three months of the year, leaving 2009 operating profit up by more than a quarter. The stock is set to replace rat-catcher and laundry firm Rentokil Initial in the FTSE 100 index next week. Car dealer Inchcape is wanted after SocGen upgraded its earnings forecasts by around 5% to 6% for the next two years. Ground engineering specialist Keller confirmed that it is on track to meet full year expectations. In its Interim Management Statement on 12 November, the group reported that both revenues and margins since the first half had been below the comparable period in 2008. Online gaming group Partygaming expects underlying earnings this year to be slightly ahead of market forecasts after solid trading since September. Revenue is expected to be in line with expectations, its statement added, with all four of its product streams showing quarter-on-quarter net growth. Ryanair said it has no plans to reopen discussions with Boeing or any other aircraft manufacturers after talks between the two groups on new aircraft orders were terminated without agreement. Topps Tiles has effectively shut down its Dutch operation after withdrawing financial support from the loss-making subsidiary. The cost will be £1m and be reflected in the next figures. The Dutch subsidiary comprises 12 stores and accounted for 4% of the group's revenue in 2009, but made a loss of £4.9m. Social housing maintenance specialist Mears has agreed terms for an all paper takeover of home care group Supporta. Mears will offer 0.115 of its shares for each for each Supporta share, valuing Supporta in total at approximately £27.2m and each share at 31p. Drug developer Ark Therapeutics has lost two-fifths of its value following European regulator EMEA's decision to reject brain cancer treatment Cerepro. EMEA feels that Cerepro is not effective enough and there is a safety risk. There is an increased risk of side-effects, including hemiparesis (slight paralysis on one side of the body) and seizures (fits). Broker KBC Peel Hunt has cut its target price for Ark to 10p a share. That is equivalent to the £20m cash in the bank. Shares in Brainspark surged after the technology-focused investment company said it had raised £550,000 through a placing to finance its acquisition, announced last month, of a 10.87% stake in Mediapolis. The firm placed 110m shares at 0.5p a time, a 40% premium over the mid-market share price. Online betting firm Sportingbet said the main trends seen in the first quarter have continued and trading across the business is in line with expectations.