Thursday January 10, 05:02 PM
London shares close lower as BoE leaves rates unchanged and US stocks fall
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - UK blue-chips closed lower, as the Bank of England (BoE) failed to ease economic concerns by leaving interest rates unchanged at 5.5 pct, while losses were exacerbated by an early slump on Wall Street.
At the close, the FTSE 100 (news) index was 50.0 points lower at 6,222.7, off an earlier high of 6,314.5, while the FTSE 250 index was down 163.4 points at 9,800.6.
Volume was moderate with 2.804 bln shares changing hands in 873,842 deals.
In the US, stocks fell after a profit warning from Capital One Financial Corp, but came off their early lows after a new reading suggested the economy might not have been as weak in the fourth quarter as originally thought.
By the London close, the Dow Jones (news) industrial average was down 36.9 points at 12,698.4, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 8.35 to 1,400.80 and the Nasdaq composite (NASDAQ: news) index fell 18.85 to 2,455.7.
In UK equity movements, the retailers were again in the spotlight as Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) 's offered some badly needed re-assurance to the sector with a positive third quarter trading update this morning. Sainsbury shares ended the day up 23 at 388 and fellow food retailer Morrison Supermarkets (LSE: MRW.L - news) ended 1-1/4 higher at 308-1/4.
However, despite Sainsbury's news much of concerns over the Christmas trading period remain and shares in Marks & Spencer, which said yesterday that it had worse-than-expected trading, were down 14 at 395, while sector peer Next (LSE: NXTF.L - news) lost 37 to 1,294.
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