REED ELSEVIER retreated further from last month’s 12-month high as the spectre of “open access” scientific publishing returned to weigh on the shares.

Under this model, pioneered by US academic journals, content is provided free to the user and funded by the author, who is usually sponsored. This is a direct inversion of the traditional relationship, whereby an author contributes their research freely, with users paying for the content through subscriptions.

But the tide appeared to be turning in favour of “open access” after Springer, the German group, the world’s second-largest academic publisher behind Reed, said it plans to offer scientific research through the model. Springer said it expects 10 per cent of publications to shift to open access, against the 1 per cent of articles that are currently offered through such platforms. Reed has previously said it expects that penetration to be limited to 4 to 5 per cent.

Analysts suggested Reed may now be forced to follow Springer’s more aggressive stance, possibly threatening the long-term growth of its scientific and medical division, which accounts for 29 per cent of revenues by 40 per cent of earnings.

With the EU also looking at the prices charged by academic publishers, and a House of Commons report on scientific publishing due within weeks, Reed shed 6½p at 523p.

A profit warning from Wm Morrison, the second from a heavyweight food retailer in as many days, inevitably proved the session’s focus. However, the shares — which touched 184¾p — bounced off their low, closing down 25¼p at 200p after Sir Ken Morrison, chairman, bought 500,000 shares at 198.85p, taking his stake to 4.13 per cent. Further unsettled by weaker than expected US employment data, the FTSE 100 finished 17.3 behind at 4407.4.

An upgrade from Credit Suisse First Boston saw BAA harden 3p at 554p. The Swiss broker has moved the airport operator from neutral to outperform, suggesting that the discount of the shares to its regulatory asset base compares favourably with UK water utilities, which also face significant capital expenditure programmes through to 2020. On those grounds, it has raised its price target from 500p to 632p.

Exel dipped 8½p at 757½p, unsettled by the departure of Ian Smith, the head of the logistics group’s European operations, who is to become chief executive at General Healthcare. Alistair Gunn at Arbuthnot Securities said Mr Smith would have played an important role in helping the integration of Tibbett & Britten succeed, and described his loss as a “blow”. But he also suggested that with T&B still trading at a premium to its 668p offer price there is an increasing likelihood that its £328 million bid will be gazumped.

BOC Group put on 5p at 918p as SG Securities raised the industrial gases group from hold to buy with a £10.30 target, against 830p previously. Hans Zayed, chemicals analyst, said BOC — recently linked with German peer Linde — is enjoying very strong momentum. Liberty International firmed 4p at 763½p as JP Morgan upgraded the property group from underweight to neutral, citing the recent disposal of US assets for 30 per cent higher than their book value.

• NEW YORK: Data showing that the pace of job growth fell sharply in June sparked a sell-off. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 51.40 points down at 10,282.80.

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FTSE 100 down 17.3 points at 4407.4

Dow Jones Industrial average down 48.0 points at 10286.20

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