London close: Shares near year-lows as economic woes weigh

The London market moved closer to year-lows on Friday as crude and metal prices fell amid fears of a renewed global economic downturn.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 91.88 points down at 6339.97, slightly above its 2014 low of 6,328, as traders reflected on a week of negative European economic data.

The UK trade deficit narrowed slightly in August, but the improvement was due to lower imports rather than any upturn in exports.

There was also bad news in UK construction, where output racked up its first annual drop in August since May 2013.

A stream of weak data out of Germany caused shares in Frankfurt to hit lows last witnessed more than a year ago.

Market analyst Alastair McCaig at spread-betting group IG said: “ The powerhouse of Europe has failed to drag the rest of Europe into the next phase of recovery and is increasingly looking like it will be dragged back into recession.”

Oil prices fell again, with the price of a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude leaking $1.54 to $85.77 just after the London market closed and Brent crude dipping $1.33 to $90.05.

The declines hit oil stocks, with Royal Dutch Shell ‘B’ shares backtracking 62p to 2258p and BP reversing 7p to 428.15p.

Falling gold and other metal prices dragged down miners, with Antofagasta dropping 24.5p to 661.5p, BHP Billiton easing 52p to 1613.5p, Glencore down 9.5p to 312.25p and Rio Tinto off 88p at 2965p.

African and North Sea explorer Tullow Oil slipped 45p to 526p after a well off the coast of Gabon failed to find commercially viable oil reserves.

House-builders were on the up after online property search site Rightmove claimed that a surge in property demand in the next five years will increase average house prices by 30%.

Persimmon rose 15p to 1291p. In the FTSE 250 Index, Barratt Developments lifted 5p to 375.4p, Taylor Wimpey progressed 0.7p to 109p, estate agent group Countrywide added 1.2p at 473.6p and Rightmove itself gained 21p to 2002p.

Market Movers
techMARK 2,670.46 -1.03%
FTSE 100 6,339.97 -1.43%
FTSE 250 14,641.58 -1.15%

FTSE 100 - Risers
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,300.00p +2.14%
Persimmon (PSN) 1,291.00p +1.18%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 396.00p +0.69%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,348.00p +0.52%
Hammerson (HMSO) 559.00p +0.45%
RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 465.00p +0.43%
BAE Systems (BA.) 444.70p +0.41%
British Land Co (BLND) 680.00p +0.29%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,610.00p +0.25%
BT Group (BT.A) 369.50p +0.14%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 526.00p -7.88%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 884.00p -4.17%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,206.00p -4.09%
TUI Travel (TT.) 343.80p -3.67%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 661.50p -3.57%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 842.50p -3.44%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 154.40p -3.32%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,613.50p -3.12%
Centrica (CNA) 293.40p -2.98%
Glencore (GLEN) 312.25p -2.95%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Telecom Plus (TEP) 1,342.00p +6.85%
Booker Group (BOK) 123.30p +4.23%
esure Group (ESUR) 227.70p +3.55%
Merlin Entertainments (MERL) 341.00p +2.49%
Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 582.00p +2.11%
FirstGroup (FGP) 110.40p +1.94%
UBM (UBM) 525.00p +1.84%
Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 2,499.00p +1.59%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 268.30p +1.36%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 375.40p +1.35%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 350.00p -8.30%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 194.00p -8.19%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 852.50p -7.69%
Afren (AFR) 97.20p -7.34%
Ladbrokes (LAD) 110.70p -6.66%
CSR (CSR) 671.00p -6.35%
Bodycote (BOY) 565.50p -6.14%
Soco International (SIA) 338.00p -5.06%
AO World (AO.) 159.50p -4.72%
Premier Oil (PMO) 273.50p -4.60%