Stocks Fall Amid Thorn Split
May 01, 2011
The Financial Times-Stock Exchange 100-share index dropped 9.2 to 3863.7, while the benchmark September futures contract eased to 3879 from its settlement at 3882 late Friday. The FT-SE 250 index of mid-capitalization stocks, meanwhile, rose 1.9 to 4368.3. Most of the drop in the FT-SE 100 was attributed to a handful of large companies paying out dividends. Also damping volume, if not prices, was uncertainty ahead of this week's scheduled meetings of U.S. and German central bank policy makers on Tuesday and Thursday, respectively. Meanwhile, investors remained focused on the recent split of Thorn EMI Group. Shares of EMI Group and Thorn began trading separately early Monday. Some traders said investors were selling Thorn shares to buy EMI, with the latter viewed as a prime takeover target. But market strategists weren't apt to read too much into the first day's trading. ``That's really just the market getting adjusted,'' said Leslie Mallard, investment analyst at NatWest Brokers. Shares of catalogue retailer Argos rose 1.9% to 757 after the group reported a 45% jump in first-half profit. The company said its six-month pretax profit surged to 31.8 million pounds from 21.8 million pounds a year earlier. Zeneca Group rose 0.12 to 14.90 amid more talk that the biotech company was about to be acquired. Monday's rumored centered on a possible bid for Zeneca by Switzerland's Roche Holding, according to traders. Among FT-SE 250 companies, engineering and industrial materials group T&N led the gainers with a 6.4% gain at 140.2 amid reports that the company is seeking new insurance coverage to cap its exposure to asbestos-related litigation payouts. Scottish Power was one of the major shares that fell on dividend payments, slipping 12 to 302. B.A.T Industries fell 2.8% to a 2011 low of 452 after another court case in the U.S. appeared likely to go against the tobacco industry.
