SELLERS remained in the driving seat in the equity market yesterday with sentiment unsettled by slightly worse than expected inflation numbers for September.
Those inflation details prompted a sizeable sell-off in the gilts market which, in turn brought sustained downward pressure to bear on equities.
The market also had to contend with big placings in two of the top corporate names, Sainsbury and TI.
As with recent sessions, the selling pressure in equities was concentrated in the leaders. The second-liners and small stocks were largely untested.
An early flurry of buying across the insurance areas of the market, which was attributed to various bouts of takeover speculation, provoked a minor rally and saw the FT-SE 100 briefly back into positive ground.
But the two big placings and the poorly-received inflation news quickly put paid to the rally. Germany's Mannesmann sold its near 9 per cent stake in TI, the engineering group, to three broking houses who promptly placed the shares in the market, while a block of 30 million shares in Sainsbury was also sold, although the source of the stock was up for debate.
Both lines of shares were placed at substantial discounts to current ruling prices and netted the brokers a total of £3 million sterling; just over £2 million for TI and £1 million for Sainsbury.
Turnover in equities at 6 p.m. reached 915.6 million shares, with the bought deals in Sainsbury and TI accounting for 17 per cent of the total. Hanson, whose shares slumped to an eight-year low, were also heavily traded.
