Markets: Ofcom’s green light for Sky lifts shares

By DOMINIC JEFF
Published on 21/09/2012 00:03

MEDIA giant BSkyB featured on a shortened top-flight risers’ board yesterday after regulator Ofcom said it remained “fit and proper” to hold a broadcasting licence, despite the phone hacking scandal at a newspaper owned by major shareholder News Corporation.

Shares in Sky were 7p higher at 734p but the wider market slumped as a raft of poor economic data brought fears of a global recession to the fore.

The FTSE 100 Index closed 33.8 points lower at 5,854.6 after Chinese manufacturing and Japanese trade figures were followed by a smaller-than-expected drop in unemployment benefit claims in the US.

Michael Hewson, senior analyst at CMC Markets, said: “Concerns about the growth outlook were compounded further in the European session when French services and manufacturing PMI’s for September absolutely cratered from their previous levels.”

The oil and gas sector slid on the back of lower crude prices, with Shell down 42.5p at 2,199p.

Online grocer Ocado was 4 per cent lower at 64.4p after a disappointing third-quarter update that revealed sales growth at the FTSE 250 firm slowed to 9.9 per cent, from 12 per cent in the first half. Struggling JJB Sports made a comeback on talk that a rescue deal will emerge today, most likely involving rival Sports Direct. The shares added 10 per cent to 0.36p.

NEW YORK: The S&P 500 finished marginally lower last night, but was able to rebound from most of the day’s losses, a sign that investor sentiment remains generally positive.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.20 points, or 0.14 percent, to end the at 13,597.16 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index inched down 0.78 of a point, or 0.05 per cent, to finish at 1,460.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 6.66 points, or 0.21 per cent, to close at 3,175.96.