London’s leading shares once again took their cue from New York today slipping back into the red after a disappointing showing on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 82 points lower overnight at 8711 as traders booked profits from recent rises.
And as London picked up the baton, the FTSE 100 Index slipped 19.4 points below yesterday’s six-month high to reach 4064.2 after an hour of trading.
With little in the way of corporate news today, telecoms were among those making some progress following a string of solid results in recent weeks.
Mobile operator mm02 led the early risers on the blue chip index up 1.5p at 61.5p, while market heavyweight Vodafone also climbed 1.5p to 131.75p and BT crept up 0.25p at 192.25p.
But Cable & Wireless led the fallers board down 3p at 99.75p after a report in the Financial Times said it was set to shed half the staff in its London headquarters.
Outside the top flight online travel firm ebookers made progress after saying it had been encouraged by a rebound in the travel market which has suffered the effects of uncertainty in the lead-up to war in Iraq.
Shares climbed 2.5p to 420p while rival lastminute.com climbed 3.5p to 142.5p.
References: EGi News 30/05/03
