Market Wrap, Thursday 16th October 2008

The FTSE 100 closed down 230.5 points at 3,849.09, whilst the FTSE 250 closed down 382.22 points at 6,234.9, and for those that are interested the FTSE Small Caps closed down 95.92 points at 2,044.52. We hope no-one packed away their parachutes, as it looks like the last two days they'd have been handy. Oil was under US$70 bbl for the first time in 12 months.

Over the pond, by the time London closed the DJI was down 185 points at 8,392, whilst the S&P500 was down 20 points at 888, and the Nasdaq down 20 points at 1,609. News that the Philadlphia measure of factory activity and manufacturing data had turned sharply lower caused the sellers to return and stocks to fall.

Back here in London, it was the mining stocks that took a heavy pounding, coupled with lower metal prices on demand concerns and general poor sentiment again. Xstrata closed down 144p at 914p, Ferrexpo down 12.5p at 71p, Lonmins down 149p at 1,250p, ENRC down nearly 25p at just shy of 362p, and Vedanta down 113.5p at 632.5p.

On to the black stuff, where we were now sub-70 bucks a barrel. Light Sweet was under US$70 bbl for the first time in over 12 months. BP closed down nearly 17p at 397.5p, whilst RD Shell closed down 112p at 1,235p.

On to the banks, where the pressure was back on. Barclays closed down 26p at 213.5p whilst HBOS closed down 1.6p at 84.1p, although RBS remained unchanged at 65p and Lloyds TSB closed down just 0.2p at 150p. There is stil hope that banks will be able to pay dividends to investors despite taking cash from the bail-out box.

Staying with financials, insurer Legal & General closed down 7.8p at 64p despite a fairly decent trading update today.

The utilities looked safe for those wanting to put cash somewhere. Severn Trent closed up 10p at 1,266p and National Grid closed up 3.5p at 636.5p.

On to the High Street, where it wasn't very good news. Marks & Sparks closed down 12p at 210p, whilst the supermarkets were also out of favour, with Sainsburys closing down 12.25p at 245p, Tesco down 17.1p at 317.9p, and Morrisons down nearly 3p at 231.25p.

On to leisure, namely travel, where TUI Travel closed down a worrying 55.35p to 194.4p, that's over 20% on the day, as Germany's TUI said that it won't be bidding for the rest of the UK tour operator, whcih it already holdings 51% of. Peer Thomas Cookfell in sympathy, with a similar percentage drop as well, closing down 44p at 145.2p.

News from builder supplier merchant Travis Perkins was taken badly as it said that trading has been down in recent weeks and it reckons it will get worse, casuing the share price to fall down over 30%, or nearly 151p to 330.25p.

Trying to find something positive, we noticed that Britvic, the soft drinks producer closed up 12.25p at 184.25p after a denet set of update fifgures, saying that sales were up 29% to £926.5m, adding that earnings will be in line with expectations.