THE FTSE fell 16.7 points to 5983.3, yesterday, while Wall Street’s Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped despite strong revenue gains in the US retail sector last month.

A three per cent decline for Shell sent it to the bottom of the FTSE, dropping 73.5p to 2177.5p, after trading left earnings in the final three months of last year short of the $4.7bn (£2.9bn) expected in the City.

The performance overshadowed its £11.5bn profits haul in 2010 and sent rival firm BP down 10.1p to 478p. Oil firms BG and Petrofac also fell, down 28p at 1434.5p, and 27p at 1566p, respectively.

The ongoing political unrest in Egypt saw traders pull their cash out of riskier assets and into more defensive stocks, such as British American Tobacco, up 35p at 2388p, and the US dollar.

BT Group’s third quarter profits lifted 30 per cent. Shares were 6.4p higher at 184.9p, a gain of four per cent. Vodafone said it expected full-year profits to be towards the upper end of the £11.8bn to £12.2bn forecast in November.

But shares failed to respond as the company dropped 0.1p to 177p.

Thomson holidays firm TUI Travel fell 4p to 243p, after warning the troubles in Egypt and Tunisia could hit earnings by up to £30m.

Santander shone the spotlight on the banking sector, as it reported an 11 per cent rise in UK profits, but warned over margins.

Overall profits were down 8.5 per cent last year.

Lloyds Banking Group fell 1.4p to 63p, while Royal Bank of Scotland added 1p to 43.5p.

Unilever was in the red as it said raw material costs caused operating margins to drop. The Dove soap to Magnum firm’s 18 per cent rise in full-year pre-tax profits to 6.1bn euros (£5.2bn) in the year to December, beat market expectations. Shares dropped one per cent, or 20p to 1837p.