Britain's top share index fell today, retreating after strong gains the previous session, with banks the biggest laggards, led lower by Barclays after Qatar sold stock in the bank.
At 0818 GMT, the FTSE 100 was down 27.37 points, or 0.5 per cent, at 5,255.17, after ending 1.8 per cent higher yesterday at 5,281.54, a new peak for 2009 on the 22nd anniversary of the "Black Monday" stock market crash of 1987.
"There's no good news out there and there's just nothing to hang your hat on this morning," said Howard Wheeldon, strategist at BGC Partners.
Banks were on the back foot, led lower by Barclays, which slid 4.5 per cent on news Qatar is selling 379.2 million shares in the bank, worth over £1.3 billion.
Heavyweight HSBC dropped 0.8 per cent, while Royal Bank of Scotland, weighed down by cash call uncertainties, fell 2.3 per cent, although Lloyds Banking Group, also plagued by cash call concerns, was flat.
Sainsbury, which gained as much as 20 per cent on Thursday on talk Qatar's sovereign wealth fund was planning a renewed offer for the British grocer, was a top FTSE 100 riser in the wake of the Barclays news, which revived the speculation.
"After the bid speculation (for Sainsbury) last week, people are looking at the Barclays move and putting two and two together," says a trader based in Monaco.
Energy stocks were under pressure, with crude off 0.5 per cent.
BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Tullow Oil shed 0.2 to 0.9 per cent.
Autonomy Corp fell 7.5 per cent after the search software company reported Q3 results.
Gross margin fell to 86 per cent in the third quarter from 92 per cent a year earlier, due to costs associated with its new product launch.
Miners were in favour, extending yesterday's gains, amid optimism over improved demand as corporate earnings recover.
Rio Tinto, Kazakhmys, Anglo American and Lonmin rose 0.8 to 1.6 per cent.
Xstrata notched up good gains, adding 1.2 per cent as the global miner said its financial performance was strong in the third quarter as it posted a 9 per cent rise in third-quarter production of coal, its most profitable product, while copper output fell 10 per cent.
Fresh earnings optimism was realised after the Wall Street close by Apple and Texas Instruments, with results from both beating market expectations.
Investors eyed another big batch of US corporate earnings for some fresh direction today, with the likes of Pfizer, Coca-Cola, State Street, Caterpillar, Du Pont, Yahoo and Lockheed Martin all scheduled to deliver numbers.
Pearson climbed 1.2 per cent after the publishing group raised its full-year guidance, saying it now expects adjusted earnings to be at or above 60 pence per share following a strong performance from its education business.
The domestic macro focus will be on the British government's borrowing levels today, with a public sector net credit requirement of £18.7 billion expected.
More attention, however, will be directed towards US data, with September producer prices and September US housing starts due for release.
Reuters