THE FTSE 100 Index had a miserable day of trading yesterday as fears of a recession spread across the Atlantic from Wall Street.

The UK's leading Index ended the final session of the week in negative territory, 381.74 points down at 3932.06 points.

In the North 40, Premium Bars and Restaurants, the pub, restaurant and nightclub owner and operator, remained out of favour with investors as the share price plummeted 32.35% to 11.5p. This was in response to the release of the company's unaudited financial report on Wednesday, which warned of a challenging year ahead for Premium Bars and Restaurants.

It was also a difficult day for the region's housebuilders, despite the Bank of England's interest rate cut earlier this week. Bellway's and Barratt Developments' share prices drifted lower by 17p and 8.5p to close at 467.5p and 83.25p respectively.

On a more positive note, Tolent, the building and civil engineering services provider, recouped some of Thursday's losses and rose 2.5p to 60p.

Elsewhere, shares in GlaxoSmithKline closed down 88p at 995p despite Panmure raising GlaxoSmithKline's price target from 1141p to 1214p.

Northgate, the Darlington based vehicle rental group, did not fare well and was one of the regional portfolio's largest fallers closing 12p down at 152p.

Having had a torrid time of late, Wellstream, the designer and manufacturer of flexible pipeline solutions for the oil and gas industry, continued to underperform as the crude oil price slid further during yesterday's trading.

The company's share price finally ended the session at 690p, falling 53.5p.

Demelza Claypole, Brewin Dolphin

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