Friday Closing Market: FTSE dips on sour Tate and Rock relapse

London shares closed lower on Friday dragged down after a profit warning from sugar firm Tate & Lyle snuffed a quarter of its value and greenback woes and high crude prices depressed Wall St despite positive US economic data.

Tate & Lyle lost 155p or 27.8% to 402.5p after warning that higher corn costs and a weaker dollar would hit profit and produce a small interim loss while viewing the near-term cautiously.

Northern Rock fell 14.3p to 179.2p after word that it was now leaning on the Bank of England for £8 billion in support after about £3 billion was injected last week and no clear takeover offers had emerged for the troubled mortgage bank.

The FTSE 100 closed 19.6 points weaker today at 6,466.8, although above the session low of 6,411.8 at 3:30pm. The bluechip index gained about 10 points on the week, closing last Friday at 6456.7.

The broader indexes were mixed today with the midcap 250 about 4 points under par at 11,035.4 and the FTSE Aim Allshare 3 points to the good at 1,116.6. Volume was fair with 3.459 billion shares traded in 641,139 deals.

As London closed New York was also moderately under the weather because of the falling dollar and rising oil prices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was trading about 15 points less at 13,898 while the S&P 500 slid 4.14 points to 1,527.24 and the Nasdaq Composite shed 8.39 points to 2,701.2.

US consumer spending improved 0.6% in August, the fastest growth in almost two years, the Commerce Department reported. But there were concerns that the third quarter now ending would impart a legacy of poor corporate performance.

Back in London the top blue chip gainers were Lonmin, 251p or 7.4% stronger at £36.49, followed by Yell Group, Smith & Nephew and Royal Sun & Alliance.

On the second tier New Star was the poorest performing stock with a 56p or 13.3% fall to 364p after first-half results beat expectations but the asset manager said its outlook was cautious.

Benfield took on 20p or 7.4% to 290p after bid speculation prompted by The Daily Telegraph. It said the reinsurance broker had received a £700 million takeover approach from Goldman Sachs that failed because it could not raise debt financing.