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FTSE -100 index 0.9 percent down

LONDON: The FTSE 100 ended 0.9 percent down on Thursday despite strong results from some leading names, as Wall Street weakness wiped the early shine from major UK stocks.

The blue chip index ended down 57.4 points at 6,086.7, well into negative territory having risen strongly to a morning high at 6,288.8 points.

New York's Dow Jones index traded down two percent at the official London close, with the Nasdaq off nearly one percent, taking the wind out of London's pharmaceutical, oil, and beverage stocks.

"It's all a bit grim at the moment. We're being dragged down by Wall Street," said a London-based equity strategist with a U.S. bank.

"If all the markets were going down then it would be less of a concern but it's really UK specific, particularly compared with Europe," he added.

Losers outpaced the gainers by three to two on volumes of more than 1.8 billion shares traded by the close. Major movers included drugs group AstraZeneca Plc , whose shares dropped 10 percent to clip 17 points from the FTSE 100 as its 1999 results renewed concerns it was overly dependent on blockbuster ulcer drug Losec.

The Anglo-Swedish drugs group is fighting to extend the drug's patent life to protect roaring sales of $5.96 billion in 1999 against an anticipated $5.8 billion.

Another FTSE points muncher was British Telecommunications which accounted for 17 points lost as its shares reversed after recent gains to drop 4.8 percent.

The FTSE 100's two oil companies -- BP Amoco and Royal Dutch Shell -- also weakened to subtract a further 16 points in what dealers said was a continuation of the Vodafone affect, whereby fund managers switch holdings into the mobile operator after its capture of Germany's Mannesmann .

Vodafone shares rose a modest 1.2 percent to add 11 index points to the FTSE.

The market cheered then booed plans by Anglo-Dutch publisher Reed Elsevier to plough more than 750 million pounds ($1.20 billion) into new Internet projects, boosting the shares strongly at first before knocking them 10 percent lower as analysts unpicked the strategy. Summing up a tough year, the group's new CEO Crispin Davis said pre-tax profit fell nine percent in 1999 to 710 million pounds on underlying revenues of 3.4 billion pounds, as online competition and management problems dented business.

"The market was looking for more hype but got a dose of reality. Davis has obviously made substantial progress since he arrived but made clear there was no quick fix," said David Forster, media analyst at Salomon Smith Barney. Diageo Plc the world's largest beverages group, suffered a similar fate despite posting first-half figures ahead of analyst expectations.

The maker of Johnnie Walker scotch, Smirnoff vodka and Gordon's gin announced pre-tax profits of 1.087 billion pounds for the six months to the end of December from 1.051 billion pounds a year earlier.

But investors fastened instead on long-term growth problems facing the company, marking the shares 5.5 percent lower by the close.

Gas and home services group Centrica Plc did slightly better following its results, its shares ending just up after it announced plans to launch a full-scale fixed-line and mobile telephone and Internet service in September. Industry analysts applauded both the new strategy and the release of full year profits towards the top end of expectations. Shares in Colt Telecom Group added six percent after the company announced progress in making its European business communications network profitable.

The reverse in New York's tech-heavy Nasdaq index blunted progress by a posse of UK technology companies to leave software writer Logica in splendid isolation with its 14.4 percent gain on the day following Wednesday's strong results.

Despite trimming some early gains, many techMARK constituents ended ahead, driving the fledgling index to a fresh closing high of 5,090.13, up 1.85 percent.

The FTSE Small Cap index also ended ahead, up half a percent at 3,297.70, as did mid cap stocks in the FTSE 250, which closed 0.8 percent higher at 6,412.9.

Looking ahead for the FTSE 100, the same London analyst spied 6,000 points as continuing psychological support but despaired of an upturn any time soon.

"London seems to be reacting to all the bad news from everywhere else and ignoring the good news. The fundamentals look fine but fundamentals ain't driving this market," he added.-Reuters