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Friday, December 4, 1998 Published at 09:50 GMT
Business: The Markets
London market report
![[ image: ]](/olmedia/100000/images/_101525_ukre150.gif) |
Billions of pounds were wiped off London shares as stocks opened sharply lower on Friday.
The FTSE-100 index was down 68.4 points or more than 1% at 5498 after concerns about corporate earnings in the US and the sharp fall in Brazilian stocks triggered a 2% drop in the the Dow Jones index.
Concerns over the state of the retail sector resurfaced with a warning from own-label products maker McBride of continuing tough trading in 1999 and an announcement of 200 job cuts. The market reacted badly cutting McBride 28.5p to 126.5p.
But elsewhere in the retail industry shares were rising. A report in The Times said retail group Sears had been approached by a venture capital company offering at least 300p per share.
Sears was quoted as rejecting the hostile bid but the market lifted Sears 39.5p to 241.5p.
Engineering group Widney - up 10p at 46.5p - said it had received an approach from a potential buyer, while construction group Y J Lovell - down 2p at 10.5p - said it had called off talks with private construction group Mansell over a reverse takeover.
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