THE absence of major corporate news and the closure of US markets for the Thanksgiving holiday kept London investors on the sidelines today.

Nov 28 2008 by Kathryn Smith, Evening Gazette

The lack of direction from Wall Street meant the FTSE 100 Index trod water in the first hour of trading.

Royal Bank of Scotland’s confirmation that existing shareholders had declined to buy new stock in its latest £15bn share offering resulted in the company’s shares slipping another 0.9p to 54.1p.

The latest fall widened the Government’s paper losses after it emerged the Treasury will own almost 58% of the ailing banking group.

Other players in the banking sector registered modest gains, with HBOS ahead 3.1p at 96.1p and merger partner Lloyds TSB up 4.7p at 168.7p.

The biggest gain in the FTSE 250 Index came from Taylor Wimpey as sentiment continued to improve after yesterday’s better-than-expected house price figures from building society Nationwide. Shares were up 32% or 3.25p to 13.25p. Shares in retailer JJB Sports were 8% higher, or 2.25p to 30.25p, after the Times newspaper said rival JD Sports Fashion was considering a bid. JD was unchanged at 233p.