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Retailers, pub groups and housebuilders were nursing heavy losses after the Bank of England indicated rate cuts were off the agenda while it tries to steer inflation back down towards its 2% target. With Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average slumping more than 1% in early New York trading due to rising oil prices and lower US retail sales, the FTSE 100 Index shed 85.9 points to close at 5448.6. Heavyweight mining stocks helped limit the damage in London as they tracked higher commodity prices. B&Q owner Kingfisher and Marks & Spencer were among the high profile fallers in the top flight - down 10% or 13.8p at 124.6p and 29.75p at 266.25p respectively. Fashion retailer Next joined the slide, falling 89.5p to 990.5p, with building supplies Wolseley also shedding 37.75p to 417.5p. Enterprise Inns led the fallers board,... [read full story]
