London close: GDP contraction casts a shadow

The leading share index finished in the red on a day that was dominated by grim figures showing an unexpected contraction in the UK economy in the fourth quarter of 2010.Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.5% between October and December according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), having grown by 0.7%. The latest figures are still be revised, but are still a shock given that analysts had been expecting growth of about 0.2% to 0.6%.Miners Kazakhmys and Randgold are in the red, but the whole sector has run into a bout of profit taking. BSkyB is higher even though the bid from NewsCorp seems no nearer a conclusion. Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt indicated he would refer it to the Competition Commission, but will wait until Rupert Murdoch's firm gives him some undertakings over the issues raised by Ofcom. Newscorp responded to Hunt's statement saying that it "continues to believe that its proposed acquisition of the shares in BSkyB it does not own will not lead to there being insufficient plurality in news provision in the UK."Water group Severn Trent said the recent bad weather in the UK reduced the level of activity in its capital expenditure programme. For the full year 2010/11, the group now expects capital expenditure to be in the range of £400m to £410m. Water consumption levels in the second half of the financial year should be on a par with the previous year.Friends Provident, the trading business of life insurance consolidator Resolution, has appointed Lloyds Banking man Andy Briggs as chief executive with current incumbent Trevor Matthews moving to a new post of vice chairman. The investment pipeline is bulging at Intermediate Capital and the mezzanine finance specialist now expects to invest around £150m to £200m more this financial year than previously budgeted.Entertainment One, owner of the Peppa Pig franchise, says UK licensing and merchandising retail sales for the kids' television character hit a record £200m in 2010. Peppa was the highest selling pre-school toy license in Britain, knocking Thomas the Tank Engine off the top spot it had hogged for a number of years.PZ Cussons, famous for its Imperial Leather soap, was weak even after it delivered interim profits slightly ahead of forecasts and thinks the full-year will meet expectations despite soaring raw material costs.Health and social care business Healthcare Locums has suspended its vice chairman and finance director after uncovering "serious" accounting irregularities and warned that results for 2010 are much worse than expected.Scalextrix and model train set maker Hornby warned annual pre-tax profit will fall short of market expectations after key Christmas sales were hurt by harsher than usual weather conditions.Elsewhere in specialist hobbies, fantasy toy soldiers retailer Games Workshop, which has already issued a profit warning for the full year, saw revenues and profits fall in the six months to November 28 after replacing staff in its stores to reduce overheads.FTSE 100 - RisersBurberry Group (BRBY) 1,063.00p +3.20%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 253.00p +3.14%Inmarsat (ISAT) 636.00p +2.42%Prudential (PRU) 668.00p +2.06%International Power (IPR) 427.10p +1.91%BT Group (BT.A) 176.20p +1.91%Diageo (DGE) 1,241.00p +1.64%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,753.00p +1.56%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,316.00p +1.46%Sage Group (SGE) 283.30p +1.21%FTSE 100 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 1,500.00p -3.72%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,855.00p -3.57%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 275.00p -3.51%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,351.00p -3.17%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,312.00p -3.17%Next (NXT) 2,075.00p -3.13%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 63.15p -2.92%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,535.00p -2.85%Investec (INVP) 490.90p -2.79%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 1,002.00p -2.72%FTSE 250 - RisersTelecity Group (TCY) 454.20p +4.90%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 130.90p +4.05%De La Rue (DLAR) 720.00p +3.60%Elementis (ELM) 131.10p +3.55%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 408.80p +2.95%Electrocomponents (ECM) 255.30p +2.04%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 156.10p +2.03%Senior (SNR) 150.00p +1.90%Grainger (GRI) 103.90p +1.86%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 219.40p +1.81%FTSE 250 - FallersPZ Cussons (PZC) 352.60p -7.01%Premier Foods (PFD) 20.68p -5.14%Ocado Group (OCDO) 228.00p -4.60%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 367.00p -4.50%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 139.00p -4.14%Sportingbet (SBT) 52.95p -3.99%SVG Capital (SVI) 236.60p -3.82%Sports Direct International (SPD) 164.30p -3.81%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 35.86p -3.71%Computacenter (CCC) 428.20p -3.71%