Aggreko fails to light up FTSE 100
Temporary power solutions provider Aggreko weighed heavily on the blue chip index in early trading, sinking more than 17 per cent. This morning it warned of a slowdown in 2013, following a strong current year of trading.
Paul Jones, analyst at Panmure Gordon, said this morning that 2013 has “stronger headwinds than expected, and previous expectations are likely to be too optimistic”.
Aside from Aggreko, Vodafone and BT Group were also blue chip fallers this morning.
On the FTSE All-Share, oil and gas services firm Hunting fell seven per cent, as it said the short-term outlook was “increasingly cautious” in a pre-close trading statement.
IT services provider Computacenter sank 3.3 per cent.
At the other end of the spectrum, mining shares helped to buoy the index in early deals. Blue chips Kazakhmys, Polymetal, Rio Tinto and Vedanta were all clustered in the top five FTSE 100 risers.
Gold miner Centamin rose almost 29 per cent, as it announced that gold exports had restarted at its flagship asset, the Sukari mine in Egypt. “We expect both fuel supply and normal operations at Sukari to resume in the coming days,” the miner said in a statement.
Fortune Oil added 23.5 per cent, as the firm is reportedly the subject of a takeover by China Gas Holdings.
Central European-focused New World Resources rose almost five per cent this morning.
UK banking shares were mainly in negative territory this morning. HSBC sank 0.31 per cent, RBS fell 0.4 per cent, Barclays dropped 0.3 per cent while Lloyds Banking Group jumped 1.34 per cent.
In Asia, the Nikkei closed up 0.94 per cent while in the US, the Dow Jones closed down 0.27 per cent.