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Stronger dollar helps push Index to below 6,000 mark
Over the last week, the FTSE 100 Index fell below the 6,000 mark for the first time since April, as a stronger dollar weighed on oil and mining stocks. Crude oil fell below $123 a barrel following a bigger than forecast jump in US fuel inventories. The Far East markets also traded lower as investors remain cautious about the US markets' weak economic data and credit crisis.
Bradford & Bingley shares tumbled, following a profits warning where the bank revealed rising bad debts and lower lending had halved its profits in the four months to April. The group said that it was cutting the price of its rights issue to facilitate a strategic investment in the lender by US buyout firm Texas Pacific Group.
Bradford & Bingley, the UK's biggest provider of buy-to-let mortgages, said it would receive 179m by selling a 23 per cent stake to Texas Pacific Group whilst raising a further 258m by selling new shares to existing investors. Total bad debt charges rose to 36m in the first four months from 23m a year earlier. The share price has fallen steeply since it announced its initial rights issue in May, which came just one month after the group had denied press reports that it was preparing to ask shareholders for cash.
Electronic Data Processing posted higher first-half pre-tax profit and revenue. The company is a provider of IT solutions to builders and timber merchants, and chairman Michael Heller reported that group sales for the six months to March 31, 2008 were up 5 per cent.
600 Group, the UK's largest machine-tool company, reported a 23 per cent higher full-year pre-tax profit, while sales revenue increased 4 per cent, to 78.9m.
Chairman Martin Temple reported that European operations experienced significant growth during the year, with the North American and South African markets continuing to improve.
Omega International, a UK manufacturer of branded kitchen furniture, announced that while market conditions have deteriorated compared to the buoyant conditions last year, both sales and profits are expected to be ahead at the half-year.
Chairman Bob Murray said that the continuing strength of the euro will have an adverse impact on group profitability this year. He added that the group will be launching a new brand of kitchen furniture in November and the board expect the profits for the full year to be in excess of those achieved last year, before the exceptional costs associated with the launch of the new brand.
Wm Morrison Supermarkets issued a trading statement and reported that in the 13 weeks to May 4, total sales, excluding fuel, were up by 8.6 per cent, of which 1.6 per cent was a contribution from new space.
The 7 per cent increase in like-for-like sales compares with 4.6 per cent for the year ended February 3, 2008.
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
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Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
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Light rain
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