London close: Footsie keeps lead

26th Apr 2010 16:34

Stocks built on Friday's gains as investors piled into miners and high street banks, although the leading index finished toward the bottom of the session's range.An increase in metal prices proved attractive, with Chile-focused copper giant Antofagasta the pick of the bunch.Kazakhmys was also wanted after it sold a 49% stake in its copper project Aktogay to Chinese company Jinchuan Group for $120m. Kazakhmys said the estimated development cost of Aktogay is in the range of $1.5bn to $2bn.A move by Kazakh peer ENRC towards diversifying its portfolio away from base metals produced in Kazakhstan was also welcomed. It is buying a 12.2% interest in South African platinum producer Northam Platinum for ZAR2.2bn ($296m).Royal Bank of Scotland was the stand-out stock in a buoyant banking sector despite BNP Paribas suggesting that shareholders, including the UK government, should sell the shares at this price.Buyers emerged when the part-nationalised lender confirmed it will impose stricter criteria on its long-term executive bonus scheme. The target price that triggers payments will rise from 50p if passed at Wednesday's annual meeting.Lloyds Banking joined the advance ahead of its first quarter trading update tomorrow.Pay TV and Internet service provider British Sky Broadcasting proved the main party-pooper after Jefferies International predicted the satellite broadcaster's quarterly figures due out this week will lack lustre.Intertek is another weak feature after plans for the transfer of the bulk of Norwegian company Det Norske Veritas's Business Assurance division to the testing and inspection firm have been abandoned.BP also encountered selling. The oil giant is preparing to use one third of the world's dispersant supplies to deal with the oil spill from its Mississippi Canyon Block 252 (MC252), off the coast of New Orleans. The company, which is also assisting the owner of the rig that sank last week with recovery operations, is attempting to secure more supplies of dispersant.Among the mid-caps, engineer Weir Group is on the rise after saying it expects profits for the first half to be ahead of expectations after a strong first quarter. First half profits should be about £30m ahead of previous forecasts.Weir is not the only company to upgrade profits guidance today. Carphone Warehouse has upgraded its earnings expectations for the third time this year after a good performance in the US from joint venture Best Buy Mobile US. "Best Buy Mobile US is out-performing even our expectations," chief executive Charles Dunstone said.Housebuilder Redrow was another with good news for shareholders. The company expects to return to profitability in the second half after being 'encouraged' by sales activity since the start of the year. The firm said that house prices have remained stable since the start of the year, but that a planned change in Redrow's mix has resulted in higher average prices. Power peripherals supplier Chloride has soared ahead after it received an indicative cash bid approach from US rival Emerson worth 275p per share and £723m in total.Bid fever is also sending IT services group Morse Group higher. The group, which flagged the bid approach on Friday, has accepted a 51p a share offer from 2e2. In other bid news Hugh Osmond's Horizon acquisition vehicle confirmed that it is in preliminary talks with several different companies, including housebuilder Crest Nicholson.Infrastructure contractor Balfour Beatty has sold off stakes in two of its public/private partnership concessions for £24.1m.British coal miner UK Coal said pre-tax annual losses widened as Hargreaves Services confirmed it was still committed to merger plans. A decline in fourth quarter production and a subdued market price for coal hit full year results, UK Coal explained.The disruption caused by the closure of airspace due to the volcanic could that enveloped Europe cost John Menzies about £2.5m, the aviation and newspaper distribution group estimates.Petrel Resources rocketed higher after announcing work is to restart in Iraq after settling all outstanding issues on the Subba and Luhais oilfield development in the south of the country.There's also good news for Titanium Resources after it reached a final settlement with all remaining insurers in its subsidiary Sierra Rutile Limited's legal action relating to the capsize of Dredge D2 in July 2008.FTSE 100 - RisersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,064.00p +7.10%Invensys (ISYS) 340.00p +4.29%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 58.05p +4.03%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,257.00p +3.54%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,480.00p +3.50%Aggreko (AGK) 1,261.00p +3.36%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,795.00p +3.02%Anglo American (AAL) 2,937.50p +2.71%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 70.24p +2.57%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,468.00p +2.51%FTSE 100 - FallersBritish Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 616.00p -2.22%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,498.00p -2.03%BP (BP.) 626.80p -2.02%WPP Group (WPP) 725.00p -1.96%Reed Elsevier (REL) 535.50p -1.65%National Grid (NG.) 646.50p -1.00%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,772.00p -0.84%BT Group (BT.A) 131.50p -0.60%Experian Group (EXPN) 622.00p -0.40%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,032.00p -0.39%FTSE 250 - RisersChloride Group (CHLD) 297.00p +42.11%Synergy Healthcare (SYR) 646.50p +9.02%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,017.00p +8.65%Hansen Transmissions International (HSN) 103.70p +7.57%Cookson Group (CKSN) 607.00p +6.77%Ashtead Group (AHT) 124.80p +6.67%Croda International (CRDA) 1,032.00p +6.34%Gartmore Group (GRT) 153.00p +5.88%IMI (IMI) 734.50p +5.84%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 432.10p +5.52%FTSE 250 - FallersMcbride (MCB) 209.20p -2.88%CSR (CSR) 434.20p -2.67%Forth Ports (FPT) 1,315.00p -2.66%Booker Group (BOK) 43.88p -2.49%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 77.00p -2.35%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 262.00p -2.24%Helical Bar (HLCL) 348.10p -2.16%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 475.00p -2.04%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 373.30p -2.02%Britvic (BVIC) 485.30p -1.96%