London afternoon: Miners lead the advance

21st Jun 2010 14:20

China's decision to delink the yuan from the US dollar has provided UK stocks with a lift and calmed nerves ahead of tomorrow's hair-shirt Budget from chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne.Miners are the main beneficiaries of the optimism engendered by China's move, with Vedanta, Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Antofagasta and BHP Billiton among the best performers. BHP and Rio have agreed to increase iron ore royalties at all their mines in Western Australia in order to smooth the passage of their US$116bn iron ore joint venture. The deal will see rates rise from 3.75% to 5.625% for fine ore and from 3.25% to 5% for beneficiated, or lower grade, ore. The rate of 7.5% for lump ore is already the prevailing rate for most of that ore produced by BHP's projects. Elsewhere in the resource sector oil heavyweights such as Petrofac, Tullow and Royal Dutch Shell are wanted along with second liners Dana Petroleum, John Wood Group and Wellstream but BP is down again after stating the Gulf of Mexico oil spill has cost it about $2bn including $105m of claims. It also confirmed that its 25% partner in the Macondo well Anadarko Petroleum is refusing to accept responsibility for oil spill removal costs and damages.A report in today's Telegraph says BP plans to shore up its battered finances against the escalating clean-up costs of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by raising around $50bn (£33bn) and pursuing Anadarko, its main partner, through the courts.Sainsbury's has reshuffled its main and operating board and appointed a new chief financial officer. Darren Shapland, currently chief financial officer, will become group development director while John Rogers will replace Shapland as chief financial officer. Rogers currently holds the role of property director on the operating board, having previously been director of group finance and director of corporate finance and has 20 years experience in financial management and strategy.Property giant Hammerson has assumed full ownership of the Battery Retail Park in the Selly Oak part of Birmingham. Hammerson has bought the 75% interest in the retail park which it did not already own from TIAA-CREF for a consideration, including costs, of £49.5m.Among the mid-caps, printing technologies group Domino Printing has more than doubled full-year profit as customers regain confidence following the end of the recession, increasing volumes by 30%. Infrastructure specialist contractor Balfour Beatty has been appointed preferred bidder for a Derby schools project. Derby City Council has named Balfour as its preferred bidder for its £231m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme under which 14 schools in the city will either be built or refurbished.Elsewhere, Shed Media, the TV programme maker best known for Footballers' Wives and Waterloo Road, has confirmed takeover discussions are underway with US media giant Time Warner. "The independent directors confirm that the company is in discussions with Warner Bros Entertainment Inc, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Time Warner, working with certain members of Shed management," the company said in a statement this morning.Data Integration, a leading UK networking, security and communication technology provider, is joining the Xchanging empire. Outsourced business processes specialist Xchanging is paying £6.5m for Data Integration (DI), with a further £2.5m liable to be paid through earn out clauses. DI reported revenues of £14.5m in the year to 31 march 2010.Profit takers moved in as shares in GW Pharmaceuticals briefly hit a 52-week high following the cannabis based medicine developer's announcement of the UK launch of Sativex, a spray for the treatment of spasticity due to Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Irish zinc explorer Connemara Mining has intersected additional high grade zinc-lead mineralisation 400m to the southwest of the Stonepark North discovery in Limerick.Shares in Kenetics jumped 40% today after the antenna supplier announced that it has raised £300,000, before expenses, by way of a placing of 7.5m new shares. The shares have been placed with Ken Wong, Chairman and Chief Executive and Yeong Hin Yuen, COO of the company.