January 28, 2008

London shares close lower

LONDON (AFP) - London shares closed lower after a volatile session that saw the FTSE 100 cover a 326-point range, with oil shares lower on weaker crude prices and cell phone maker Motorola adding to a gloomy corporate picture by posting a dramatic slide in earnings.

At the close, the FTSE 100 index was down 130.8 points at 5,609.3, compared with a session high of 5,844.9, and a session low of 5,518.3. The FTSE 250 index fell 119.1 points today to close at 9,493.7.

Volume was below average with 2.46 billion shares having changed hands in 867,132 deals.

Vodafone was the day's most traded stock with 381 million units exchanged followed by Royal Bank of Scotland which saw 140 million shares change hands.

On the leaderboard, national airline British Airways was the day's biggest winner, gaining 12.5 -- or 4.22 percent -- at 308.5, followed by bank Alliance & Leicester, which took on 28 pence -- or 3.92 percent -- at 741.5.

On the downside, British Energy was the day's biggest casualty, losing 30 -- or 5.93 percent -- at 476, followed by Royal Dutch which was down 105 pence -- or 5.85 percent, closing on 1690.

No comments: