This Morning in London headline shares were sharply lower in early deals, amid concerns over the US economy and oil prices. Among early movers, British Energy (BGY) topped the list of fallers, off 57p at 536p, after saying its Hartlepool 1 Reactor start-up has been delayed due to complications during a planned inspection of its boiler units. As a precaution, the company has also closed sister units at Hartlepool and Heysham with four units down in total. Elsewhere, miners dragged on the senior index in reaction to a negative broker note from Citigroup in which it cuts its stance on the sector to 'hold'. Kazakhmys (KAZ) slid 93p to 1,441p, Vedanta (VED) eased 119p to 2,044p, Xstrata (XTA) dipped 141p to 3,292p and Rio Tinto (RIO) came off 149p to 4,057p. At 9:30 the FTSE-100 was down 75.4 points at 6,452.5 with the FTSE-250 off 158.5 points at 11,140.5.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
Citigroup reiterates buy New Star Asset Management (NSAM) (cutting the price target price to 485p from 505p) and has downgraded Aga Foodservice (AGA) to hold from buy (460p price target).
The broker says hold JJB Sports (JJB) (185p target) and says buy BT (BT.A) (360p target) and Thus (THUS) (200p target).
Credit Suisse has issues negative note on UK domestic banks, cutting EPS targets across the sector. The broker has downgraded Lloyds TSB (LLOY) to neutral from outperform (cutting the price target to 540p from 655p), reinitiates coverage of Barclays (BARC) with a neutral recommendation and a 665p price target; Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) with a neutral recommendation and a 480p price target, they reiterate underperform on Alliance & Leicester (AL.) (cutting the price target to 675p from 953p), with underperform on Bradford & Bingley (BB.) (cutting the price target to 270p from 390p), neutral on HBOS (HBOS) (cutting target to 1025p from 1080p) and has underperform Northern Rock (NRK) (180p target).
HSBC has issued a note on European Real Estate, in which they have downgraded British Land (BLND) to neutral from overweight (cutting the price target to 1160p from 1525p), upgraded Hammerson (HMSO) to neutral from underweight (cutting the price target to 1230p from 1395p), reiterated overweight on Land Securities (LAND) (cutting the price target to 1865p from 2000p) and has underweight on Liberty International (LII) (cutting the price target to 960p from 1065p).
Sanford Bernstein has downgraded DSG International (DSGI) to market perform from outperform.
UBS has downgraded BG Group (BG.) to neutral from buy.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Friday in New York shares celebrated the 20th anniversary of Black Monday (if celebrated be the right word!) with panicky investors dumping shares, after disappointing reports from Honeywell International, 3M and Caterpillar moved the sentiment needle to “negative”, with concern in the wider market now joining the hard-hit financials. There was however, good news from Google, as their shares climbed after the internet search giant beat earnings expectations. The Dow closed down a disappointing 366.94-points to 13522.02, the Nasdaq fell 74.15-points to 2725.16, while the S&P lost 39.45-points to close at 1500.63. On the week, the Dow fell 4.1%, the Nasdaq lost 2.9%, while the S&P slid 3.9%.
On this day in:-
1797 - Frenchman Andre-Jacques Garnerin made the world's first parachute jump, launching himself from a balloon over the Parc Monceau in Paris.
1862 - A rebellion by Greek troops garrisoned in Athens forced King Otto I to resign.
1883 - The opening of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York with a performance of Gounod's 'Faust'.
1909 - Elise Deroche (who used the self-created title of Baronne de la Roche) became the first woman pilot to fly 'solo'.
1910 - Doctor Hawley Crippen was convicted at the Old Bailey Central Criminal Court in London, for poisoning his wife Cora. Crippen was hanged on 23rd November at Pentonville prison.
1937 - The Duke and Duchess of Windsor arrived in Berlin to meet German leader Adolf Hitler, to study housing conditions and hear a concert.
1952 - In Kenya, Great British troops arrested the leader of the 'Mau Mau' rebels, Jomo Kenyatta.
1962 - The beginning of the 'Cuban Missile Crisis' when U.S. President John Kennedy announced that Soviet missile bases had been installed on Cuba off the Florida coast, with the agreement of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
1966 - KGB masterspy George Blake escaped from Wormwood Scrubs in London where he was serving a 40-year sentence for spying against the Great British Government.
1987 - The First Volume of the Gutenberg Bible was sold in New York for £3.26-million making it the most expensive printed book to be sold at auction.
