FTSE 100 holds steady as Argos profts drop

The FTSE 100 was up slightly this morning as traders took stock of the panics surrounding swine flu and retails and property took a hit.

At 8:40 BST, the index stood at 4,107.58 – a rise of 11.18 points or 0.27 per cent.

British Airways bounced back from its flu scare – up 4.12 per cent, while miners Fresnillo and Kazakhmys rose 3.68 per cent and 3.58 per cent respectively.

Lloyds Banking rose 3.35 per cent to 98.80p and Royal Bank of Scotland gained 3.06 per cent to 33.70p.

Leading the drops was property specialist Liberty – down 4.94 per cent – while British Land dropped 2.32 per cent, and Land Securities fell 2.13 per cent.

A shadow passed over the retail sector as Home Retail – the owner of Homebase and Argos – saw pre-tax profits fall 24 per cent to £328 million while sales fell one per cent.

The firm’s chairman warned of a challenging year for retail.

Home Retail was down 2.04 per cent and Tesco fell 2.85 per cent.

Last night in New York, the Dow Jones closed down 0.10 per cent – at 8016.95 – after standing in positive territory for much of the day.

The S&P 500 in Chicago was down 0.27 per cent.