London afternoon: Footsie turns red

4th Mar 2011 15:19

A weak start on Wall Street has sent London to an intra-day low, with miners turning tail.US monthly non-farm payrolls were better than expected, but not by much. Investors don't look keen to open up any new positions ahead of the weekend. Mining heavyweights Rio Tinto, Anglo American and Kazakhmys are all lower, having done well earlier on.Advertising giant WPP is top of the fallers though, despite making over £1bn for the first time ever in 2010. Barclays Capital sees better value in sector peers with more exposure to the UK.There are further losses for HSBC, still reeling from Monday's disappointing full year numbers. On a brighter note, outsourcing firm Capita Group is going well. It has bought Talis Information, a provider of management software and managed services to the academic sector. Fellow outsourcing group Serco is also wanted.Customers have also flocked to online grocery specialist Ocado where gross sales are up by nearly a quarter over the past three months. The firm, which has a long-term delivery deal with John Lewis grocery arm Waitrose, saw sales rise to £146.2m from £117.2m in the 12 weeks to 20 February.International recruitment firm SThree has joined the list of job agencies reporting a continuing general uplift in the staffing market, though the shares are down today. Group gross profit, at constant exchange rates was up 19% to around £42m in the three months to 27 February from £35.8m a year earlier.Low cost airline easyJet saw a steep rise in the number of passengers carried in February from a year ago, though the gain was not as sharp as January's. The number of passengers carried on the airline's familiar white and orange planes rose 13.1% to 3.83m in February from 3.39m in February 2010.The sharp rise in the share price of oil explorer and producer Range Resources is as much of a mystery to the company's board as it is to the watchdogs down at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Trading at beer pump specialist Brulines has gone flat recently and the second half will come in short of previous expectations.