BP fails to fire FTSE to positive mood

A STRONG performance from BP wasn't enough to stop the Footsie slipping into the red yesterday, dragged down by a poor opening on Wall Street.

The oil giant received a 677 million settlement from one of its partners relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, pushing it towards the top of the risers' board, up 12.1p at 460p.

But the FTSE 100 Index, which had made gains in early trading to hit an intra-day high of 6,017.56, finished 7.5 points lower at 5,948.49.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.7 per cent in early trading after being hit by ongoing fears about the eurozone debt crisis following a downgrade for Greece from ratings agency Fitch.

The pound was down against the dollar at $1.62 but was up against the euro, at €1.14, which was also hit by the eurozone debt fears.

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG index, said: "Although blue chips in London have made some progress over this week, investors still seem to have little urgency to really push stock markets higher.

"The FTSE 100 is trading roughly where it ended 2010 and, with rallies still proving to be less than sustainable, we may have to resign ourselves to these choppy ranges for at least a few more weeks."

London's top-flight index was also dragged down by a fall in volatile commodity prices, such as oil, which had shown slight gains in the morning session.

Heavily-weighted energy and mining companies lost some of their earlier advances as stocks followed commodity prices downwards.

Oil and gas firm BG Group was down 10p at 1,378p, silver miner Fresnillo was off 4p and 1,321p and platinum firm Lonmin fell 14p at 1,524p.

Perth-based utilities giant Scottish & Southern Energy was among the risers after it grew profits for the 12th year in a row, despite a drop in power use among its nine million-plus customers.

The owner of Scottish Hydro Electric reported a 1.7 per cent increase in profits to 1.31 billion in the year to 31 March. Shares were up 14p to 1,341p.

Outside the top flight, embattled retailer HMV Group agreed a deal to sell its book shop chain Waterstone's to a Russian billionaire for 53m.

The high street chain said the agreement to sell the business to A&NN Capital Fund Management, in which Alexander Mamut has an interest, was still subject to a number of conditions. But shares were up 10 per cent, or 1.04p to 11p.

Shares in pubs group Mitchells & Butlers dropped by 5 per cent after analysts expressed disappointment over the company's half-year results.

Operating profits were flat at 136m after the timing of Easter and pub opening expenses affected the business, off-setting a 7.5 per cent rise in food sales as meals overtook drink revenues for the first time.Shares were down 17.4p at 319p.

Among the Scottish stocks, East Kilbride-based chemicals transportation firm Interbulk surged ahead by 106.5 per cent, or 4.13p, to close at 8p after Chinese logistics giant Sinotrans bought a 35 per cent stake in the group - whose other shareholders include engineering tycoon Jim McColl - at 11p per share.