Market report: Tuesday close

Traders refused to make a price in the shares until 20 minutes after the start of official trading. Then they slumped 11p to 167p, wiping almost £30m from the club's market value of £462m. They ended at 168p.

The club's own broker, Merrill Lynch, downgraded it from buy to neutral.

The share slide follows the departure of chief executive Peter Kenyon to Roman Abramovich's Chelsea. Kenyon was the man who capitalised on Man U's global brand and negotiated the 13-year, £303m Nike sponsorship.

It seems everybody knew about Kenyon's decision, except the market. Traders were fuming last night at the absence of any official announcement and the feeling in the Square Mile is that further weakness in United's shares will see the club kicked into the arena as a bid play.

The departure of Kenyon can only weaken the chances of the Premier League side mounting a creditable defence. Irish chums Dermot Desmond, JP McManus and John Magnier between them own around 15% of the shares and are said to be anxious to find a bidder for the club.

The Financial Services Authority has recently rapped quoted football clubs for allowing price-sensitive information to dribble out, rather than through official announcements. Manchester United has also been heavily fined for fixing the price of replica shirts.

Shares came off the boil following Monday's move that saw prices close at their highest in more than a year. Investors were disappointed at the FTSE 100's failure to breach 4300. The blue-chip index fell 28.2 points to 4263.90 with Wall Street opening lower in New York.

The chemicals sector took a knock after Goldman Sachs came out with some bearish comments. It has awarded ICI, 5 1/2p cheaper at 198p, an underperform rating, as it did Johnson Matthey, 17 1/2p off at 1002 1/2p.

Retailer Kingfisher firmed 1/4p to 270p, after Deutsche Bank repeated its buy recommendation. Tesco dipped 1 1/2p to 224p after JP Morgan repeated its overweight stance and raised its target price from 240p to 250p.

Oil industry services outfit Wood Group was 4p lighter at 176 1/4p after downgrades by several brokers. UBS has moved from buy to neutral and cut its target price by 20p to 200p, while Lehman Brothers has cut its target to 180p.

Loss-making London Asia Capital stood out with a leap of 8.88p to 17p, reflecting its 25% stake in software specialist Beijing Success Technology, which has just reported profits of £600,000. Almost two million shares were traded, against the usual 10,000.

Microchips designer Arm Holdings touched 122 1/4p before ending 2 1/4p cheaper at 115 1/2p. JP Morgan has upgraded it from neutral to overweight, saying the group will see a pick-up in royalties, and has lifted fair value from 72p to 145p.

Prices and indices in this section are supplied from various sources and calculated at different times and may not always match those listed on the site.