London shares started the session in subdued fashion today as heavyweight oil stocks slid.
Both BP and Shell fell more than 2%, off 14p at 552p and 13p at 562.5p respectively following weaker oil prices, and weighed on the market as a whole.
After an hour trading, the FTSE-100 Index was off 5.7 points at 5422.1, while falls in a number of tech stocks also pulled the market lower.
Telecoms firm Telewest Communications was down 2.5p at 70p, while Spirent slipped 2.5p to 174p and software group Misys was off 5.5p at 425p.
But the trend was mixed, and on the up were a handful of techs, including chip designer Arm, up 4.5p at 215p, CMG up 4.5p at 222.5p, telecoms group Energis, up 8.5p at 163.5p and Colt Telecom up 16p at 322p.
Attention today will be focused on two annual general meetings – at BT and Marconi.
Marconi, which faces a stormy meeting with shareholders at its AGM in Westminster, beginning at noon, rose 1p to 101p.
BT, which is holding its meeting in Nottingham, however slipped a penny to 475.5p.
Away from the FSTE, P&O, which released a quarterly trading statement showing its ferries division was suffering from the foot-and-mouth outbreak, was up a marginal 1.5p at 246.5p.
But pottery group Portmeirion slumped 17% after warning half-year interim profits would fall below the previous year after recording lower sales in the US. Shares fell 30p to 145p.
EGi News 18/07/01
