UK Market News

LONDON (ShareCast) - Leading shares drift lower after disappointing retail sales and weaker mortgage lending in May.

The economic data proved to be a double-whammy for DIY retailers Home Retail (LSE: HOME.L - news) and Kingfisher (LSE: KGF.L - news) , which feature prominently among the main fallers. Elsewhere in the retail sector fashion chain Next and Currys and PC World owner DSG International (LSE: DSGI.L - news) are also on the slide.

Mortgage lending eased in May from the month before and was 58% lower than the same time last year, figures showed today. The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said gross mortgage lending dipped to £10.3bn last month from £10.5bn in April, but held above February's £10bn low.

The news was a blow to housebuilders with Morgan Sindall (LSE: MGNS.L - news) and Barratt Developments (LSE: BDEV.L - news) two of the worst affected.

On the positive side, BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) is wanted on reports that Saudi Arabia is to place a £5bn order for 72 Typhoon fighter jets. Meanwhile, in a weak mining sector Xstrata (LSE: XTA.L - news) edges higher after Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - news) and Citigroup (NYSE: C - news) upgraded their ratings for the stock.

Software (Frankfurt: A0XFVC - news) company Micro Focus (LSE: MCRO.L - news) has seen off the prospect of a rival bid for Borland by improving the terms of its offer for the legendary US software company. Micro Focus is now offering $1.15 per Borland share, up from its previous offer of $1 per share. The terms value the entire issued share capital of Borland at about $88m.

Bus and train group Go-Ahead has continued to grow like-for-like (LFL) bus and rail revenue in the last two months. The company has seen a £10m increase in fuel costs but this has been recovered through a combination of fare increases and consumption savings. Fuel requirements for the next financial year have been secured via hedging arrangements at 47p per litre, up from 43p per litre this year.

Pub group and real ale brewer Marston's dropped after announcing a fully underwritten 11 for 10 rights issue to raise gross proceeds of approximately £176m. The group also said like-for-like sales in Marston's Inns and Taverns were up 1.1 % in the 16 weeks to 6 June 2009 and pre-tax profit before exceptionals for the year to October is expected to be not less than £69m.

Engineer GKN (LSE: GKN.L - news) is also down after proposing a 6 for 5 rights issue to raise £423m and said it posted a pre-tax loss for the first five months to May. Management said sales for the five months to May totalled £1,794m.

Shares in Mouchel are sharply lower after the road and infrastructure support group warned that its performance for the current year will be below previous expectations.

Industrial equipment rental firm Ashtead posted a 22% drop in full year pre-tax profit, but said its 2009/10 guidance remains unchanged.

Aim listed luxury leather bags maker Mulberry reported a decline in full year pre-tax profit and while it made a positive start to the current financial year, it remains cautious amid an uncertain economic climate.

SIG (LSE: SHI.L - news) , supplier of construction products, said due to the continuing difficult market conditions, it now expects underlying pre-tax profit for the year to be around the bottom end of the current range of market expectations.

Consultancy firm Jelf slumped into losses for the half-year and warned the challenging market conditions are unlikely to change this year.

In vitro diagnostics firm Axis (Stockholm: AXIS.ST - news) -Shield expects revenues to show growth close to 20% in the first six months of the year, with continuing strong sales across all three divisions.

Crop productivity firm Plant Impact (LSE: PIM.L - news) saw its share price rally strongly today after it countered claims on Internet message boards that it was running low on working capital. CEO Peter Blezard told Sharecast on Monday "We don't need to raise money if we don't want to," while today's statement from the company added that trading in the current financial year has started positively, with sales for the first quarter at record levels.

FTSE 100 - Risers Cable & Wireless (CW.) 130.60p +3.32% Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY.L - news) (LLOY) 69.10p +2.98% Vodafone Group (LSE: VOD.L - news) (VOD) 121.40p +2.06% Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN.L - news) (STAN) 1,174.00p +2.00%

FTSE 100 - Fallers InterContinental Hotels Group (Virt-X: IHG2.VX - news) (IHG) 591.50p -4.06% Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO.L - news) (RIO) 2,069.00p -3.95% Liberty International (LII) 383.25p -3.46% Rexam (REX) 275.75p -3.33%