London close: Scottish banks recover after poll signals 'no' vote

Scottish-based banks and insurers regained poise in the London market on Thursday after a new poll showed unionists back in the lead in the Scottish independence stakes.

Royal Bank of Scotland lifted 3.8p to 346p, Lloyds Banking Group ticked up 0.85p to 74.08p and Standard Life advanced 6p to 413.4p after a Survation poll showed the 'no' camp with a 53% share of the vote and separatists with 47%.

It followed a YouGov poll at the weekend showing the 'yes' campaign in the lead for the first time, although traders were again likely to be on tenterhooks on Thursday afternoon ahead of an expected second poll from the company.

The good news for the banks failed to lift the FTSE 100 Index, which closed 30.49 points adrift at 6799.62p after CPI data in China dropped below expectations to 2% year-on-year.

The inflation figures also came out on the same day that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) decided to withdraw some liquidity from the financial system, which analysts said investors were unlikely to welcome.

The news hit mining stocks, with Fresnillo losing 23p to 819p, Antofagasta backtracking 12p to 767p, Randgold Resources dimming 63p to 4652p and Anglo American off 19.5p at 1495p. Kazakhmys, which is due to be renamed Kaz Minerals following a restructuring, crumbled 13.9p to 287.8p after Westhouse Securities downgraded its advice on the stock to 'neutral' from 'add'.

Morrisons half-year results contained hints of a recovery after the supermarket slashed prices to keep up with discounters Aldi and Lidl, boosting it by 1.2p to 177.8p.

But Tesco tumbled 1.7p to 230.2p after holding off cutting prices as steeply as the Bradford-based chain. Marks & Spencer dropped 5.3p to 425.7p and Sainsbury's reversed 3.8p to 285.3p.

Shares in fashion chain Next dropped 215p to 6950p after it failed to lift its full-year guidance despite reporting a 19% rise in first-half profit.

Housebuilders were out in the cold on news from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors that growth slowed in August, buyer enquiries fell for the second month in row, sales tumbled and price and sales expectations worsened. Persimmon fell 5p to 1348p, Taylor Wimpey declined 0.6p to 112p and Redrow was 2.7p off at 275.2p.

TechMARK 2,843.79 -0.42%
FTSE 100 6,799.62 -0.45%
FTSE 250 15,621.35 -0.33%

FTSE 100 - Risers
SSE (SSE) 1,485.00p +2.77%
ITV (ITV) 216.80p +2.07%
Standard Life (SL.) 413.40p +1.47%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 74.08p +1.16%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 346.00p +1.11%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 1,021.00p +0.99%
St James's Place (STJ) 696.50p +0.94%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,325.00p +0.87%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 374.30p +0.86%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 714.00p +0.85%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 697.50p -3.12%
Next (NXT) 6,950.00p -3.00%
Fresnillo (FRES) 819.00p -2.73%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,004.00p -1.76%
Sage Group (SGE) 382.90p -1.69%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,728.00p -1.69%
Royal Mail (RMG) 422.60p -1.68%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 767.00p -1.54%
Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,380.00p -1.50%
G4S (GFS) 254.60p -1.43%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 574.00p +2.96%
Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 95.40p +2.86%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 188.60p +2.56%
Drax Group (DRX) 656.50p +2.42%
Fidessa Group (FDSA) 2,229.00p +1.92%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 118.20p +1.90%
Dignity (DTY) 1,444.00p +1.83%
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 602.50p +1.69%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 318.00p +1.69%
COLT Group SA (COLT) 142.30p +1.64%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Home Retail Group (HOME) 174.00p -7.25%
Ashmore Group (ASHM) 327.00p -5.19%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 287.80p -4.61%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 61.10p -4.38%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 230.20p -4.04%
Exova Group (EXO) 181.00p -3.93%
AO World (AO.) 190.00p -3.55%
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 46.75p -3.49%
Poundland Group (PLND) 314.20p -3.41%
Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,345.00p -3.26%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 116.12p +2.54%
Skyepharma (SKP) 309.75p +2.06%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 3.85p +1.99%
Optos (OPTS) 207.50p +1.22%
Ricardo (RCDO) 622.00p +0.89%
Dialight (DIA) 905.00p +0.61%
Sepura (SEPU) 142.25p +0.18%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
DRS Data & Research Services (DRS) 16.00p -4.48%
CML Microsystems (CML) 312.50p -3.85%
Sarossa (SARS) 1.64p -2.96%
SDL (SDL) 312.25p -2.95%
Anite (AIE) 87.50p -2.78%
XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,525.00p -2.43%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 95.00p -1.81%
Kofax Limited (DI) (KFX) 475.50p -1.60%
RM (RM.) 130.00p -1.52%
Torotrak (TRK) 17.00p -1.45%