Reuters: Hot Stocks: Britain's FTSE falls, knocked back by Syria concerns

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Britain's FTSE falls, knocked back by Syria concerns Aug 27th 2013, 07:45 Tue Aug 27, 2013 3:45am EDT * FTSE 100 falls 0.2 percent * Two day rally halted by Syria uncertainty * Antofagasta leads miners lower * Petrofrac surges after first half results By Alistair Smout LONDON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Britain's top share index fell on Tuesday, reopening after a public holiday to uncertainty over possible military action by the United States against Syria, prompting investors to take profits on a two day rally. The market was led lower by sectors most sensitive to optimism over the economy. Miners fell 1.5 percent, with Antofagasta down 2.7 percent after first-half profit dropped by nearly a third. Miners accounted for four of the top five fallers, and are down 15.1 percent so far this year, suffering from weaker commodity prices. The United States signalled possible military action against the Syrian government on Monday over a suspected chemical weapons attack last week, hitting Asian stocks fell and the Turkish lira. The FTSE 100 was down 0.2 percent or 13.40 points at 6,478.70 at 0727 GMT, having added 1.4 percent in two days at the end of last week. "I struggle to see reasons for the FTSE 100 to carry on higher now. Even though we've only had one day off, a lot seems to have happened since Friday evening," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said. "The Syria situation has got hotter in terms of a potential reaction (from the United States), and uncertainty over that could keep a cap on things in the very near term." While falls in Asia prompted an early drop of 0.5 percent, the index recovered some of those losses, helped by a spate of better corporate news. Petrofac led gains, up 4.6 percent, after lifting its interim dividend and saying second half trading would be strong after delivering an already-expected fall in revenues. "H1 results were better than expected but continued delivery in H2 is still needed to meet expectations. The well known investment risks remain and we continue to see this as a Buying opportunity ahead of growth in new markets," Liberum said in a note. Britain's Bunzl rose 2 percent after delivering a first-half profit beat, prompting Investec to raise its target price on the stock, while Marks and Spencer gained 2.1 percent after being raised to "buy" from "neutral" by Citigroup. (Editing by Chris Pizzey, London MPG Desk, +44 (0)207 542-4441) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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