EMBATTLED newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror staged a remarkable turnaround yesterday after it was forced to issue a statement reassuring investors over its trading and financial position.
The group said it was trading comfortably within the c
ovenants for its debt facilities after spending much of this week on the back foot amid market concerns.
Trinity, which warned on profits two weeks ago due to a deteriorating advertising market, said the majority of its borrowings were through a dollar private placement.
Shares were down by as much as 15 per cent but recovered to close 5.75p up at 60.5p, a gain of 10.5 per cent.
Other UK shares were given a boost by lower oil prices and a positive start on Wall Street amid another volatile session in London.
Banking stocks were under heavy pressure early in the session but Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke settled nerves by saying US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "in no danger of failing".
The benchmark FTSE 100 index was 100 points lower earlier in the day, but eventually closed just 21.3 points down at 5,150.6.
The blue-chip index picked up the mood from the US as falling oil prices on higher-than-expected US stock levels and well-received corporate results offset poor inflation news.
Paul Webb, chief dealer at CMC Markets, said: "Traders managed to find a glimmer of hope in better-than-expected US industrial production data but there's a lot of clutching at straws going on here and it's already looking highly questionable as to whether this 'micro-rally' will indeed have any lasting substance to it."
Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS – 8 per cent lower earlier as analysts fretted over the sector's possible need for additional capital – both reined in most of their losses, down 2.3p to 165p and 5.5p to 254.5p respectively.
HBOS' fall nonetheless takes the mortgage giant further away from its 275p rights issue price. With tomorrow's deadline for the bank's £4 billion cash call looming, underwriters look likely to pick up the tab for the fundraising.
Banks may have finished strongly, but there was little respite for US-facing building supplies firm Wolseley, which told shareholders it would not pay a full-year dividend in September. Battered by a rapid downturn in UK trading conditions as well as its US woes, it shares slipped 18p, more than 6 per cent, to 272.25p, making it the leading Footsie faller.
Also on the back foot were heavily-weighted mining stocks as commodity prices fell. Rio Tinto and Xstrata were among the fallers, down 195p to 5,025p and 182p to 3,538p respectively.
In the FTSE 250 index, JD Wetherspoon shares jumped 10.4 per cent, or 18.25p, to 193p after the pubs chain reported better-than-expected sales figures.
The full article contains 492 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
