BLUE-CHIP shares suffered further heavy losses yesterday amid volatile trading but the FTSE 100 Index still managed to notch up its 12th month of gains in a row.
Continuing concerns that the US Federal Reserve will start tapering its asset buying programme saw another bout of profit taking, with the FTSE 100 down 1.1% or 73.9 points to 6583.1. There were also sharp falls on the Cac 40 in France and German's Dax.
On the currency markets, the pound was down against the dollar, at 1.52 US dollars, and up against the euro, at 1.17 euros.
Meanwhile, despite the falls on the FTSE 100 over the past two weeks it notched up a 2.4% rise over May, meaning it has risen in each of the past 12 months.
Among stocks, conglomerate Smiths Group confirmed talks to sell its medical division, thought to be worth £2 billion. It said it had received a preliminary approach for Smiths Medical and was in early stage discussions, but shares fell 11p to 1379p.
Another blue chip deal came from Lloyds Banking Group, which announced it was selling a tranche of US mortgage bonds to various buyers for £3.3bn to shore up its balance sheet.
Lloyds gained a slight uplift after revealing the sale of its mortgage-backed securities which will add £1.4bn to its capital strength. Shares in the lender rose 0.5% or 0.3p to 62.1p, above the 61.2p break-even price set out by the Government.
Topping the risers board was bookmaker William Hill, which launched a corporate bond to institutional investors to raise around £375 million.
Proceeds will be used to pay back short term loans taken out to help fund its takeover of the Sportingbet Australia business and Playtech's 29% stake in William Hill Online. Shares were up 1.85%, or 7.9p, at 442.7p.
Also doing well in the top-flight was British Gas owner Centrica, its shares climbing 4p to 380p.
It had announced the sale of its 50% interest in the Braes of Doune onshore wind farm in Stirlingshire, Scotland, for £59m to the Hermes GPE Infrastructure Fund. Centrica bought the stake for £42 million in 2007. Meanwhile, a raft of broker rating changes saw mixed fortunes for a number of stocks in the second tier.
Car parts and bicycle retail chain Halfords was the biggest riser on the FTSE 250 Index, up 6% or 19p to 329p after UBS upgraded the firm to "buy".
An upgrade for miner Lonmin also ensured it saw strong gains, up 8p to 295p, although Charles Church housebuilder Persimmon was suffering after a ratings downgrade and shed 5p to 1220p.
The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were William Hill, up 7.9p to 442.7p, Admiral, climbing 21p to 1338p, Royal Bank of Scotland up 5.1p to 336.6p and Centrica ahead 4p at 380p. The biggest fallers were Evraz, down 7p to 135.3p, Eurasian Natural Resources, falling 12p to 239.9p, Capita, off 36p to 962p and Vedanta Resources, down 44p at 1262p.
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