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A welter of companies going exdividend and whispers that the Bank of England may vote tomorrow to raise interest rates again - for the second month in a row - sent a chill wind through the Square Mile.

So it was no surprise that the FTSE 100 index made heavy weather of it, weighed down by payouts equivalent to a seven-point deficit before trading even got under way.

Drugs giant , down 52p at 2932p, went ex a 60p dividend while , off 15p at 1700p, is getting ready to dole out 16p a share to shareholders and , 4p cheaper at 302p, is shelling out 6.7p. The index was last up 5.6 points to 6351.9.

Sentiment was also held back by worries that inflationary pressures may just force the MPC’s hand. It raised rates last month but further increases may be needed. Dealers say a further rise this month has not been factored into their calculations.

One of the few bright spots was the UK’s largest mining outfit, , which followed a big rise on the Australian stock market overnight with a jump of 36p to 1021p. Profits soared 41% in the first half to $6.17bn (3.14bn), and it has vowed to hand back around 5.1bn to shareholders by way of a share buyback. US broker Lehman Brothers says it is surprised and pleased by the size of the repurchase plan.

Claims earlier this week suggested Billiton would sell its Gulf of Mexico oil exploration interests and use the money to buy , down 15p at 2690p, or , up 13p to 2418p. But that now appears wide of the mark.

took off with a rise of 20p to 568p on turnover of more than 12m shares on the back ofwords of praise from . The broker has switched from neutral to buy with a 700p price target. It says the shares have still to reflect the airline’s move to

Heathrow’s Terminal 5, which could provide an opportunity to boost connecting traffic.

rallied 3p to 538p following the sell-off that greeted yesterday’s fourth-quarter profits slump. ABN Amro has downgraded from buy to hold while Deutsche Bank has dropped its target price from 630p to 580p.

A profits warning and gloomy view of prospects from left its shares nursing a loss of 46p at 762p. The magazine publisher and radio broadcaster blamed weak market conditions.

Aim-listed leapt 52p to 220p after agreeing a 225p-a-share offer from Australia’s Stockdale that valued the property trader and developer at 170m. Stockdale has already received irrevocable undertakings for 44.6%.

Aim-listed , p cheaper at 70p, is registering and marketing its pharmaceuticals products in the Middle East after they received a better-than-expected response at the Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai.

The company has appointed a special team to make sure the products, which are marketed through its Dexo pharmaceuticals division, will be available. Distributors are being appointed throughout the Middle East.

City coverage and share tips

This is Money carries breaking City news through the day and exclusive reports from the Evening Standard, Daily Mail City and Financial Mail on Sunday. Bookmark and try these markets links…

http://investing.thisismoney.co.uk/cgi-bin/digitalcorporate/thisismoney/selector.cgi

TAKING STOCK: Sectors at a glance

BANKING FINANCE
responded positively to record full-year sales. WestLB has repeated its add rating and 910p target on the UK’s biggest life assurer. Other brokers are confident mergers talks with rival may be back on again soon.

BUILDING PROPERTY
Dresdner Kleinwort has begun coverage of with a buy rating and a 2449p target after lifting its sum-of-the-parts valuation by 38% to reflect increased valuations of most of the firm’s divisions.

CONSUMER
Cazenove has started coverage of Branston pickle-to-Ambrosia rice supplier with an rating and 370p target. It says Premier’s acquisition, to be completed next month, makes powerful industrial logic.

ECONOMIC
Consumer confidence rose last month despite the Bank of England’s three interest rate rises since August. A Nationwide survey showed confidence gained after being at its lowest level for two years. The Bank is expected to leave rates on hold tomorrow.

ENGINEERING
Panmure Gordon has repeated its buy rating and 500p target for . It says yesterday’s news of an increase in the American defence budget is good news for the group and shows the US cycle has not finished.

HEALTH
Pharmaceuticals giant Glaxo-SmithKline is to launch three or four new drugs or vaccines a year until 2010, and plans to raise its research and development budget from 17% to 25% of sales within 10 years.

INDUSTRIALS
Chemicals supplier has reassured the City that increased sales at the beginning of the year has been sustained, and trading has continued in line with its expectations. Dresdner Kleinwort has repeated its hold and 788p target.

LEISURE
Dresdner Kleinwort has repeated its buy rating and 50p target price for for online poker player Party-Gaming. The broker reckons current-year underlying growth estimates in poker appear conservative. Poker customer numbers rose by 17% last month.

MEDIA
The purchase of Liverpool FC by US millionaires George Gillett and Tom Hicks for 219m has provided with a 17.8m from its sale of a near-10% stake in the Premier League side. The terms value Liverpool at 5000 a share.

NATURAL RESOURCES
Aim-listed has begun drilling at the Al-Jariya-1 well on the Jebel Hafit project off Oman. The drilling is in an area that is already known to have proven gas and condensate reserves.

RETAILING
Wal-Mart faces the biggest sex discrimination case in US history after a judge ruled that more than am women could join a lawsuit claiming the stores giant unfairly treated them over pay and promotions.

SUPPORT SERVICES
Surveillance is a fast-growing industry. Little wonder that Aim-listed has forked out 750,000 for Salford-based Protector. The CCTV provider had sales of 1.7m last year from 350 clients, including Hugo Boss and .

TECHNOLOGY
Second-quarter numbers from Dicom were ahead of expectations. Bridgewell has a 260p target and has repeated its buy rating. has upgraded from hold to add and raised its target from 230p to 255p. Better margins are driving profits.

TELECOMS
traded at a fiveanda-half-year high, supported by reports in the German press that Deutsche Telekomplanned to bid in order to establish a foothold in the UK for IT services. City traders are doubtful.

TRANSPORT
Bankrupt US carrier Northwest Airlines today said losses narrowed to $267m (136m) in the fourth quarter, and that it would have turned a profit for the year had it not been for reorganisation expenses.

UTILITIES
Word is may be in the running to build a new 1500-megawatt power station in the United Arab Emirates. The company says expansion in the region is part of its strategy and it is always on the lookout for new projects.

Other stories:
Yesterday’s trading: Rumours send Footsie racing
The bird flu winners and losers
FSA to cut 300 jobs as it hikes fees
3i ventures to cash in on big state project
BP shares dive despite profits
Benjys goes under again
US tycoons buy Liverpool FC
Brown to ease the Reits rules
Bird flu could kill off exports

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 29th, 2007 at 10:19 pm and is filed under Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

A welter of companies going exdividend and whispers that the Bank of England may vote tomorrow to raise interest rates again - for the second month in a row - sent a chill wind through the Square Mile.

So it was no surprise that the FTSE 100 index made heavy weather of it, weighed down by payouts equivalent to a seven-point deficit before trading even got under way.

Drugs giant , down 52p at 2932p, went ex a 60p dividend while , off 15p at 1700p, is getting ready to dole out 16p a share to shareholders and , 4p cheaper at 302p, is shelling out 6.7p. The index was last up 5.6 points to 6351.9.

Sentiment was also held back by worries that inflationary pressures may just force the MPC’s hand. It raised rates last month but further increases may be needed. Dealers say a further rise this month has not been factored into their calculations.

One of the few bright spots was the UK’s largest mining outfit, , which followed a big rise on the Australian stock market overnight with a jump of 36p to 1021p. Profits soared 41% in the first half to $6.17bn (3.14bn), and it has vowed to hand back around 5.1bn to shareholders by way of a share buyback. US broker Lehman Brothers says it is surprised and pleased by the size of the repurchase plan.

Claims earlier this week suggested Billiton would sell its Gulf of Mexico oil exploration interests and use the money to buy , down 15p at 2690p, or , up 13p to 2418p. But that now appears wide of the mark.

took off with a rise of 20p to 568p on turnover of more than 12m shares on the back ofwords of praise from . The broker has switched from neutral to buy with a 700p price target. It says the shares have still to reflect the airline’s move to

Heathrow’s Terminal 5, which could provide an opportunity to boost connecting traffic.

rallied 3p to 538p following the sell-off that greeted yesterday’s fourth-quarter profits slump. ABN Amro has downgraded from buy to hold while Deutsche Bank has dropped its target price from 630p to 580p.

A profits warning and gloomy view of prospects from left its shares nursing a loss of 46p at 762p. The magazine publisher and radio broadcaster blamed weak market conditions.

Aim-listed leapt 52p to 220p after agreeing a 225p-a-share offer from Australia’s Stockdale that valued the property trader and developer at 170m. Stockdale has already received irrevocable undertakings for 44.6%.

Aim-listed , p cheaper at 70p, is registering and marketing its pharmaceuticals products in the Middle East after they received a better-than-expected response at the Arab Health Exhibition in Dubai.

The company has appointed a special team to make sure the products, which are marketed through its Dexo pharmaceuticals division, will be available. Distributors are being appointed throughout the Middle East.

City coverage and share tips

This is Money carries breaking City news through the day and exclusive reports from the Evening Standard, Daily Mail City and Financial Mail on Sunday. Bookmark and try these markets links…

http://investing.thisismoney.co.uk/cgi-bin/digitalcorporate/thisismoney/selector.cgi

TAKING STOCK: Sectors at a glance

BANKING FINANCE
responded positively to record full-year sales. WestLB has repeated its add rating and 910p target on the UK’s biggest life assurer. Other brokers are confident mergers talks with rival may be back on again soon.

BUILDING PROPERTY
Dresdner Kleinwort has begun coverage of with a buy rating and a 2449p target after lifting its sum-of-the-parts valuation by 38% to reflect increased valuations of most of the firm’s divisions.

CONSUMER
Cazenove has started coverage of Branston pickle-to-Ambrosia rice supplier with an rating and 370p target. It says Premier’s acquisition, to be completed next month, makes powerful industrial logic.

ECONOMIC
Consumer confidence rose last month despite the Bank of England’s three interest rate rises since August. A Nationwide survey showed confidence gained after being at its lowest level for two years. The Bank is expected to leave rates on hold tomorrow.

ENGINEERING
Panmure Gordon has repeated its buy rating and 500p target for . It says yesterday’s news of an increase in the American defence budget is good news for the group and shows the US cycle has not finished.

HEALTH
Pharmaceuticals giant Glaxo-SmithKline is to launch three or four new drugs or vaccines a year until 2010, and plans to raise its research and development budget from 17% to 25% of sales within 10 years.

INDUSTRIALS
Chemicals supplier has reassured the City that increased sales at the beginning of the year has been sustained, and trading has continued in line with its expectations. Dresdner Kleinwort has repeated its hold and 788p target.

LEISURE
Dresdner Kleinwort has repeated its buy rating and 50p target price for for online poker player Party-Gaming. The broker reckons current-year underlying growth estimates in poker appear conservative. Poker customer numbers rose by 17% last month.

MEDIA
The purchase of Liverpool FC by US millionaires George Gillett and Tom Hicks for 219m has provided with a 17.8m from its sale of a near-10% stake in the Premier League side. The terms value Liverpool at 5000 a share.

NATURAL RESOURCES
Aim-listed has begun drilling at the Al-Jariya-1 well on the Jebel Hafit project off Oman. The drilling is in an area that is already known to have proven gas and condensate reserves.

RETAILING
Wal-Mart faces the biggest sex discrimination case in US history after a judge ruled that more than am women could join a lawsuit claiming the stores giant unfairly treated them over pay and promotions.

SUPPORT SERVICES
Surveillance is a fast-growing industry. Little wonder that Aim-listed has forked out 750,000 for Salford-based Protector. The CCTV provider had sales of 1.7m last year from 350 clients, including Hugo Boss and .

TECHNOLOGY
Second-quarter numbers from Dicom were ahead of expectations. Bridgewell has a 260p target and has repeated its buy rating. has upgraded from hold to add and raised its target from 230p to 255p. Better margins are driving profits.

TELECOMS
traded at a fiveanda-half-year high, supported by reports in the German press that Deutsche Telekomplanned to bid in order to establish a foothold in the UK for IT services. City traders are doubtful.

TRANSPORT
Bankrupt US carrier Northwest Airlines today said losses narrowed to $267m (136m) in the fourth quarter, and that it would have turned a profit for the year had it not been for reorganisation expenses.

UTILITIES
Word is may be in the running to build a new 1500-megawatt power station in the United Arab Emirates. The company says expansion in the region is part of its strategy and it is always on the lookout for new projects.

Other stories:
Yesterday’s trading: Rumours send Footsie racing
The bird flu winners and losers
FSA to cut 300 jobs as it hikes fees
3i ventures to cash in on big state project
BP shares dive despite profits
Benjys goes under again
US tycoons buy Liverpool FC
Brown to ease the Reits rules
Bird flu could kill off exports

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 10th, 2007 at 4:22 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.