London afternoon: Insurers left behind

23rd Apr 2010 14:07

The blue-chip index edged higher over the lunch time session but has not yet recouped all of yesterday's losses, and barring a late flourish looks set to end the week lower than it started it.The number of FTSE 100 constituents in the red is in single figures and comprises a large number of insurers, among them Prudential, which announced today that it would announce the price of its $20bn rights issue on 5 May. Oil company BP said it is initiating a rapid response to clear up an oil spill following the sinking of the Transocean Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles south-east of New Orleans. The company is assisting operator Transocean in an assessment of the well and sub-sea blow out preventer with remotely operated vehicles.In a case 'having your cake and eating it' investors are buying British Airways and Thomas Cook as flights from Europe resume and are also investing in cruise operator Carnival, ostensibly because it will have benefited from the grounding of flights for much of this week. For similar reasons traders are talking up InterContinental Hotels as a beneficiary of the volcanic ash fall-out on the basis that stranded travellers will have crammed into hotels in preference to camping out on airport floors.Royal Bank of Scotland has received an upgrade from BarCap, which suggests RBS has a "more credible strategy for balance sheet shrinkage" than state-controlled rival Lloyds Banking. BarCap has raised its rating on RBS to overweight and doubled its price target to 70p.Engineer Morgan Crucible said operating profits and margins are above the comparable period for 2009 and in line with management expectations thanks to the cost savings made last year.It has been a busy month for contract announcements at Balfour Beatty and it got busier still on Friday as the contractor announced two more deals, one in Colorado, USA for $100m, and one closer to home in London for £65m.Defence industry supplier Ultra Electronics said revenue has continued to grow and its performance in the first quarter has been in line with expectations.Information Management solutions provider SDL said performance for the first quarter is in line with management expectations for both revenue and operating profit.Scalextrix maker Hornby is to return to paying dividends after the second half of the year finished stronger than expected.Home shopping firm Findel said benchmark pre-tax profit will be lower than previously expected due to difficult market condition at its educational supplies division.Testing software specialist NCC has bought rival SDLC Solutions Limited for up to £15m in cash.Shares in Irish zinc explorer Connemara jumped after drilling at its Stonepark project in zinc provided further confirmation of a high grade zinc discovery. Interactive gaming group NetPlayTV will be a launch partner on ITV1's new teleshopping trial window 'The Zone'. NetPlayTV has entered into a six month "teleshopping" airtime trial agreement with ITV to broadcast fully interactive transactional TV gaming formats on ITV1 starting during May 2010.