SHARES STRONGLY UP/DOWN this week 26/12/05 (Master RSI)

London shares close lower after 4-1/2 year highs yesterday

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares closed lower on end-of-year profit-taking
after reaching a year high yesterday and after declines on Wall Street and in
Asia, with oil stocks weak as the price of crude eased, dealers said.
At the close, the FTSE 100 was 19.5 points lower at 5,618.8, having closed
yesterday at fresh 4-1/2 year highs in the last full trading session of 2005.
The broader indices were also down, with the exception of the FTSE Small
Cap.
Volume was virtually non-existent, ahead of the New Year celebrations, with
the majority of traders choosing to miss today's half-day session.
A paltry 657 million shares changed hands in 86,463 deals.
According to spread bettors, IG Index, the Dow looks set to fall a further
27 points at the open, adding to yesterday's 11.44 point fall to 10,784.82.
Oil prices also slipped in London trade on profit-taking ahead of the New
Year but held on to most of the gains made over the course of 2005.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, lost
45 cents to 59.87 usd per barrel in electronic trading.
In London, the price of Brent North Sea crude for February delivery also
shed 45 cents to 57.62 usd per barrel in Asian trade, as profit takers emerged
following two days of solid gains.
Oil shares followed suit. BP fell 4 to 619, while Royal Dutch Shell 'B'
shares were down 3 at 1,858 and Cairn Energy fell a penny to 1,920.
Meanwhile, Hilton Group dropped 5-1/4 to 363-1/2, giving up most of
yesterday's gains following confirmation of the 3.3 bln stg sale of its hotels
division to Hilton Hotels Corp of the US.
Punch Taverns PLC slipped 6-1/2 to 849 after it said shareholders at its
Extraordinary General Meeting had approved the company's acquisition of Spirit
Group Hldgs Ltd. The acquisition is expected to complete on Jan 5.
Other fallers included marketing services firm Real Affinity -- down 0.03 at
0.235 after reporting a widened pretax loss of 1.06 mln stg for the six months
to end Sept, compared with a loss of 251,000 stg in the same period last year.
On the upside, o2 gained 1/4 at 197-3/4, after ING reiterated its 'hold'
stance but lifted its price target to 200 pence from 160 previously.
ING said Telefonica's planned takeover of the telecoms group is on track to
be completed next month.
Aston Villa rose 2-1/2 to 472-1/2 after Michael Neville's consortium
confirmed takeover talks are continuing.
And Stanley Gibbons Group Ltd rose 3-1/2 after it said it expects its
results for the year to Dec 31 2005 to achieve current market expectations.
In a trading update ahead of the March 3 release of the results, the company
also said the subscription period for the first tranche of the Stanley Gibbons
Rare Stamp Investment Fund has been extended until Friday Feb 24.
Sustainable energy and water treatment firm ReEnergy debuted on AIM, trading
at 76-1/2 pence, ahead of the 75 pence placing price. Shares had reached as high
as 79 pence earlier.
The company successfully raised 6.54 mln stg, and had a market value of just
over 28 mln stg at the start of trading.
On the economic front, house prices in the UK rose by more than anticipated
during December, though the annual rate of growth ended the year in single
digits for the first time in five years, according to a survey by the UK's
largest building society Nationwide.
Nationwide found that house prices during December rose 0.5 pct from the
previous month, up on November's 0.3 pct and expectations of another 0.3 pct
rise.