Footsie falls 12.8 to 5827 despite bank merger talk

Not even the prospect of a merger between high street banks Halifax and the Bank of Scotland, and their subsequent price gains, could stop the FTSE 1090 from closing 12.8 points down at 5827.5. The proposed merger - speculated to be worth more than £9.7bn - saw the share value of Halifax and the Bank of Scotland climb 30p to 768p and 61p to 803p. Britain's leading mobile phone group Vodafone fell 4.75p to 210p to take off 13 points from the Footsie. Fellow telecommunication stocks subsequently fell with Energis, Sprirent and Bookham falling 9p to 305p, 15p to 580p and 29p to 271p re...