Talk of Brexit rift leads to market falls

Market report Perry Gourley

An announcement by Aberdeen-based explorer Faroe Petroleum of an oil and gas discovery in the Norwegian North Sea came after the market closed on a day when London’s top-flight index sank into the red.

Faroe said the discovery was made at the Njord North Flank in which it has a 7.5 per cent interest. Shares in the company had earlier risen 1.25p to close at 76.25p.

The FTSE 100 index dropped back below the 7,000 mark, down 66 points to 6,947.55, amid reports chancellor Philip Hammond has been attempting to put the brakes on the government’s “hard Brexit” plans.

Pearson led the market lower after reporting a 7 per cent drop in underlying global sales in the nine months to September.

The group said declining revenues in its higher education courseware business had taken investors by surprise, with shares slipping more than 8 per cent or 70p to 762.5p.

Oil majors were also weighing on the London market, with Royal Dutch Shell B and BP dropping 39p to 2,145.5p and 5.8p to 483.8p respectively.

Shares in Paddy Power Betfair were down 155p to 8,700p after Ladbrokes and Gala Coral’s merger moved a step closer.

The £2.3 billion tie-up picked up pace after they offloaded 359 betting shops in an attempt to allay competition concerns.

NEW YORK: The Dow Jones industrial average lost 51.98 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 18,086.40. The S&P 500 index slid 6.48 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 2,126.50. The Nasdaq composite index fell 14.34 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 5,199.82. The company said it had bought software firm Integrated Computing & Office Networking in a deal worth a total of £2.4 million. The oil & gas firm said it had completed a shares placing it announced last week to bring a field in Nigeria into commercial production.