Dow surge fails to lift torpor

For August it has been a pretty exciting week for City share dealers. Barclays' wooing of the Woolwich had the banking sector in a tizzy trying to spot the next target. The pharmaceuticals sector took a pounding.

However, yesterday it was back to a more typical Friday in August. The FTSE-100 barely stirred, closing almost flat after a trading day where even the term lacklustre would be an exaggeration. Not even a 100-point surge from the Dow Jones on the back of the latest US economic data was enough to generate investor interest.

The FTSE 100 closed down 2.8 points 6384.5.

Analysts said there was no apparent pattern as the market wound down to a hot weekend, with only one or two stock-specific companies coming through.

Shares in Corus Group , Europe's biggest steel-maker, dropped to a 20-month low as Salomon Smith Barney tried to place a 4.13% stake or 129m shares in the market, even though the stock has already fallen by 40% to 50% this year.

The stock fell almost 6% in London to 77p with 155m shares changing hands.

Corus' three main shareholders are US funds Franklin Resources, with 8.85%, and Brandies, with 7.5%, and Deutsche Bank with 4.7%

The troubled steel-maker, which has had to cut jobs in recent months, blames its poor performance on the strong pound and weak euro.

Plagued by threats of strikes and mounting costs investors fear the share price may have further to fall before the company turns itself around.

Corus has underperformed the FTSE All Share index by 46% so far this year.

Barclays' share price continued its downward trend as investors tried to evaluate the agreed merger with the Woolwich .

The shares fell a further 11p to £15.70 yesterday, having already fallen over 6% since the announcement. However Abbey National shares climbed 20p to 775p as in vestors assessed the chances of its becoming the next bid target.

While the acquisition will raise Barclays' stake in the mortgage lending market, it is still unclear if the synergies are sufficient to justify the price paid.

Vodafone led technology media and telecom stocks (TMT) lower against the flow of firm oil and drug shares.

The company was down 5p to 270p, down 1.8%.

Technology stock ARM Holdings , Europe's largest chip designer, was a big loser of the day, shedding more than 7% to 650p.

Investors reassessed their forecasts for the company following American chip manufacturer Dell's lower than expected sales figures.

Dell blamed the shortfall in sales on a drop off in European demand for microprocessors.

Bookham Technology was one of the biggest losers, yes terday falling by 8% to close at £37.84.

QXL , the internet auction site, also continued to fall due to worries about a potential German acquisition. Analysts questioned the company's ability ever to make money.

On the upside, Rio Tinto , the mining company, rose 3% to £11.25 on news that it had gained control of North, an Australian iron ore mining company. The rise occurred even though Rio Tinto had to increase its original bid by 25% following a better offer from Anglo America.

Oil and gas stocks were also on the up, responsible for 17 FTSE points.

BP rose 13.5p to 601p in reaction to the price of crude oil increasing. Shell was up 9p to 566p.

Pharmaceuticals also provided support, recovering from Thursday's losses when a US court reversed a patent protection decision for Eli Lilly's anti-depressant drug, Prozac.

SmithKline Beecham climbed 14p to 873p, while Glaxo Wellcome was up 32p at £19.26 as a result of investors betting that the previous day's declines were not justified by the earnings outlook.