Property drop leaves FTSE 100 flat

The FTSE 100 ended Wednesday flat, closing at 5,139.37 – a drop of just 0.06 per cent or 3.23 points.

Early trading saw solid gains, but as markets opened in the US, the index dropped.

A later rally put the FTSE 100 where it had started.

Leading the drops was Liberty International down 10.11 per cent – as traders failed to warm to the property giant's plans to turn to shareholders.

British Land was down 4.48 per cent and Hammerson fell 3.58 per cent as property fell out of favour.

Eurasian dropped 3.01 per cent.

The rising stocks were a real mixed bag today.

Burberry Group rose 5.43 per cent after the fashion label's chief revealed sales were 'on fire'.

Standard Chartered rose 4.32 per cent, Prudential gained 3.99 per cent and Man Group climbed 3.37 per cent.

In New York the Dow was holding steady at 12:09 EDT (17:09 BST) up 0.10 per cent to 9,839.70 following earlier drops.

On the currency markets, sterling rebounded from recent drops, up 0.26 per cent against the dollar to $1.6402 and up 0.57 per cent against from euro to €1.1121.