Insurance lowers FTSE

Royal & Sun has slid 2.25p, or 1.8%, to 123.25p after Merrill Lynch & Co. lowered its recommendation for the stock to "sell" from "neutral". Marks & Spencer has lost 4.25p, or 0.9% to 497.75p with the company saying the industry will remain "challenging" and it faces increasing cost pressures. Scottish & Southern Energy has bucked the market trend, rising 2.7% on talk that Swedish electricity company Vattenfall might bid for the UK utility. The news has buoyed other utilities, lifting Scottish Power, Centrica and National Grid, all up over 1%. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 Stock Average ...