The London market suffered a lacklustre session today as the global equities rebound paused for breath after a recent improvement in sentiment.
The FTSE 100 Index closed 3.8 points down at 6,303.9, having jumped by more than 90 points yesterday at the start of the second half of the trading year.
Among stocks, luxury goods firm Burberry was 3% higher, up 40p to £14.05, after an upgrade from broker HSBC on the back of recent strategic initiatives.
Outsourcing firm Serco surged more than 6% after it confirmed a major support contract for the US Medicare and Medicaid health plans. The deal is thought to be worth as much as £958million over the next five years, and Serco’s shares are now at a level not seen since the end of 2000 after rising by 40.5p to 665.5p.
In corporate updates, chocolate retailer Thorntons improved by 3.5p to 98.5p as it issued a brief statement saying that underlying profits for the year just completed will be ahead of current market expectations of £4.6million.
There was no further rally for housebuilder Persimmon however, despite reporting that reservations of new homes had surged 30% since the launch of a UK Government scheme allowing people to buy properties with a 5% deposit.
While the improved housing market recently propelled the stock into the FTSE 100 Index, shares were 16p lower at £12.24.
The biggest FTSE 100 risers included Pearson 30p higher at £11.92 and Hammerson 10.9p up £5.06.
The biggest FTSE 100 fallers were Royal Bank of Scotland down 7.6p to 274.3p, Vedanta Resources off 28p to £10.39, Eurasian Natural Resources 5.5p lower at 206.9p and Rexam down 12.6p to 483.4p.
Elaine McLachlan, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Inverness, noted that risers included SSE gaining 1.4% to £15.50 and Xcite Energy rising 1.2% to 104.5p.
Fallers included Plexus Holdings, falling 2.6% to 188.5p.
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