London close: FTSE 100 pulled below 7000 by declines on US markets

LONDON (ShareCast) - London's FTSE 100 accelerated in the red by the end of Wednesday's session with declines in US markets offering direction to the downside. Late in Europe, Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.1% in New York and the S&P500 is off 0.9% in low volume trade with markets cutting exposure following poor economic data out from the world's largest economy.

The FTSE 100 finished down 0.4% to 6991, falling below the key 7000 mark.

Connor Campbell, a market analyst at Spreadex noted that the FTSE 100 did well to hold onto some marginal growth above its 7000 level but gains ultimately succumbed to comments from the Bank of England's Kristin Forbes that UK inflation is likely to turn negative next month, and that the central bank could cut rates further if low inflation 'persists'.

"This is the second such statement from a BoE (Shenzhen: 200725.SZ - news) member after Andrew Haldane similar comments last week; it will be interesting what Governor Mark Carney says when he speaks on Friday," said Campbell.

In FX markets, the British pound and euro currency are recovering against the US dollar. Sterling was up 0.4% against the US dollar to change hands at $1.48901 and the euro, which nine days ago fell to a 12-year low of $1.0456, is 0.6% firmer on the day at $1.0965, underpinned by stronger-than-expected German business optimism.

In commodity markets, gold rose 0.4% to $1,197.4. Energy has reversed early losses, and Brent crude is up 0.9% to $55.81 a barrel while Nymex crude surged 2.2% to $48.32 a barrel.

Balfour Beatty (Other OTC: BAFBF - news) shares gain despite poor numbers Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in UK construction firm Balfour Beatty gained over 6% as it pledged to implement cost saving after reporting deep losses last year which forced it to suspend its dividend.

Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) shares dropped after broker Investec Securities downgraded its rating on the bank to 'hold'.

United Utilities Group shares flicked between gains and losses after the company's sparse trading update underwhelmed the market but the group did say it expects a modest increase in underlying operating profit for current year earnings compared with the previous year.

Profits at UK housebuilder Bellway (LSE: BWY.L - news) jumped by more than a half to a record in the first six months of its financial year, prompting the company to hike its interim dividend by 56.3%.

Meanwhile, Moneysupermarket dipped after founder Simon Nixon tried to place £35m of his shares in the company on Tuesday after markets had closed, only to pull the placing on Wednesday morning as investors seemed likely not to buy in to it.

Card Factory (LSE: CARD.L - news) was also trading lower as despite impressive full-year results, as investors were disappointed not to receive a special dividend.

International Personal Finance (LSE: IPF.L - news) reversed from gains made on Tuesday as a result of an upgrade from Berenberg Bank.

FTSE 100 - Risers TUI AG Reg Shs (DI (KSE: 003160.KS - news) ) (TUI (LSE: TUI.L - news) ) 1,214.00p +2.62% BG Group (LSE: BG.L - news) (BG.) 895.70p +1.69% Rio Tinto (Xetra: 855018 - news) (RIO) 2,926.00p +1.46% Centrica (CNA) 260.20p +1.40% BT Group (LSE: BT-A.L - news) (BT.A) 470.55p +1.08% Anglo American (LSE: AAL.L - news) (AAL) 1,104.50p +1.01% BP (BP.) 448.35p +0.95% HSBC Holdings (HKSE: 0005.HK - news) (HSBA) 583.50p +0.90% Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) 'A' (RDSA) 2,096.50p +0.87% Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT.L - news) (JMAT) 3,425.00p +0.85% FTSE 100 - Fallers ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) (ARM) 1,127.00p -6.08% Sage Group (LSE: SGE.L - news) (SGE) 468.50p -2.74% Barclays (Swiss: BARC.SW - news) (BARC) 251.90p -2.53% InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,595.00p -2.30% Shire Plc (Xetra: S7E.DE - news) (SHP) 5,400.00p -2.26% Carnival (CCL) 3,045.00p -2.09% Capita (CPI (Other OTC: CPICQ - news) ) 1,180.00p -1.83% Travis Perkins (LSE: TPK.L - news) (TPK) 1,958.00p -1.76% Tesco (TSCO) 239.35p -1.76% Sky (LSE: SKY.L - news) (SKY (Other OTC: BSYBF - news) ) 1,012.00p -1.75% FTSE 250 - Risers Hunting (HTG) 534.50p +6.90% Premier Oil (LSE: PMO.L - news) (PMO) 150.00p +5.63% Balfour Beatty (BBY) 244.00p +5.54% Soco International (LSE: SIA.L - news) (SIA (Shanghai: 600009.SS - news) ) 169.40p +5.22% Redrow (RDW) 358.70p +4.15% Bellway (BWY) 2,059.00p +2.74% Polymetal International (Other OTC: AUCOY - news) (POLY) 569.00p +2.71% Acacia Mining (Other OTC: ABGLF - news) (ACA) 272.10p +2.68% Vedanta Resources (Other OTC: VDNRF - news) (VED) 557.00p +2.67% Just Eat (JE.) 388.00p +2.65% FTSE 250 - Fallers Ted Baker (TED) 2,660.00p -4.93% Card Factory (CARD) 284.10p -4.66% RPS Group (LSE: RPS.L - news) (RPS) 237.50p -4.54% Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 140.00p -4.18% Greencore Group (LSE: GNC.L - news) (GNC) 314.60p -4.03% Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 276.30p -3.39% Mitchells & Butlers (LSE: MAB.L - news) (MAB) 436.60p -3.34% Ocado Group (Other OTC: OCDGF - news) (OCDO) 335.10p -3.07% esure Group (ESUR) 219.90p -2.74% International Personal Finance (IPF) 490.80p -2.72% FTSE TechMARK - Risers Kofax Limited (NasdaqGS: KFX - news) (DI) (KFX) 732.50p +45.63% Oxford Biomedica (LSE: OXB.L - news) (OXB) 13.00p +4.00% Gresham Computing (LSE: GHT.L - news) (GHT) 89.50p +1.70% Filtronic (FTC) 12.00p +1.05% BATM Advanced Communications Ltd (LSE: BVC.L - news) . (BVC) 13.50p +0.93% Innovation Group (Other OTC: INVGF - news) (TIG) 29.25p +0.86% Optos (OPTS) 346.75p +0.65% Anite (AIE) 89.25p +0.56% Sepura (SEPU) 140.38p +0.45% Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 133.50p +0.38% FTSE TechMARK - Fallers Oxford Instruments (LSE: OXIG.L - news) (OXIG) 848.50p -3.80% Vectura Group (LSE: VEC.L - news) (VEC) 147.50p -2.16% NCC Group (LSE: NCC.L - news) (NCC (LSE: 0OFP.L - news) ) 200.00p -1.48% KCOM Group (LSE: KCOM.L - news) (KCOM) 94.00p -1.31% Dialight (DIA) 767.50p -0.97% SDL (SDL (LSE: SDL.L - news) ) 432.00p -0.92% Spirent Communications (Other OTC: SPMYY - news) (SPT (Taiwan OTC: 8431.TWO - news) ) 89.00p -0.84% E2V Technologies (LSE: E2V.L - news) (E2V) 198.50p -0.75% Consort Medical (Other OTC: CSRMY - news) (CSRT) 852.50p -0.41% Skyepharma (SKP) 320.00p -0.39%