London close: Footsie rallies to narrow losses

12th Nov 2010 16:47

Footsie recovered from an early slump to close just a few points lower as well-received company updates nearly cancelled out losses in the mining sector.Miners were big fallers on disappointment with the outcome at the G20 meeting and the possibility of a currency free-for-all. Talk that China is about to hike its interest rates has also hit metals prices sending Xstrata, Antofagasta, ENRC and BHP Bilpliton are all under lower, as is Lonmin ahead of results on Monday. Kazakhmys, meanwhile, received an extra push lower from broker Evolution Securities, which has downgraded the stock to "reduce".Aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce went well despite warning that solving the problems on its Trent 900 engine will mean it making less money than expected in 2010. Elsewhere in the once glamorous world of sky travel, the market did not seem unduly bothered by the prospect of a strike hitting British Airways in the New Year as talks with the Unite union broke down.Centrica burned bright after the British Gas owner said it will raise householders' gas and electricity bills by an average of 7% from 10 December. With the season of price rises for utilities underway the likes of Scottish & Southern Energy, National Grid and Severn Trent also attract buying interest.Indian Energy Group Essar has issued its first trading update since listing. Power generation in the period to 30 September fell back a little due to lower customer demand and high rainfall, the company said.Royal Bank of Scotland, out of favour recently on Irish debt fears, looks oversold, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The stock regained some of yesterday's losses while fellow part-nationalised lender Lloyds is also clawing back losses.Down a division, Electrocomponents stormed ahead after the world's largest distributor of electronics and maintenance products, forecast full year profits will be ahead of previous expectations after a strong first half. All regions saw double-digit percentage underlying sales growth in in the six months to 30 September. Sector peer Premier Farnell rises in sympathy.Year on year revenue growth quickened in the third quarter at media agency Aegis. Total group revenues in the third quarter were 8.8% higher than in the corresponding quarter of 2009. Revenues in the first nine months of 2010 were 4.4% higher than a year earlier.Less volatile markets have trimmed activity at money broker Tullett Prebon, with business 'relatively subdued' over the past four months. Revenue in the four months July to October of £292m was 3% lower than this time last year (6% lower at constant exchange rates).Chip designer Imagination Technologies was under the cosh as it appears to have lost out to UK rival ARM in an attempt to get its intellectual property used in the new Samsung Orion chip."A video posted on YouTube yesterday clearly showed the Samsumg Orion chip being demonstrated under an ARM spec sheet, showing it contains Mali-400 3D graphics," broker KBC Peel Hunt noted. "We believed the rumours re Orion when they surfaced in September but think this confirmation could see shares go lower. ARM would not see this as a one-off experiment with Mali by Samsung. Only time will tell, but the share price looks vulnerable to customer losses," the broker reckons.Instrumentation and controls company Spectris has seen a revenue growth spurt in the second half of the year, prompting the group to raise profits guidance. Revenues for the four months ended 31 October 2010 increased by 21% from a year earlier, including a contribution from acquisitions of 2% and beneficial effects from currency of 3%. Housebuilder and contractor Kier's construction businesses are offsetting a slow start to its homes arm as the housing market struggles, while Hornby is making "encouraging progress" and the toy company that owns the Corgi and Airfix brands says its new Scalextric range is selling like hot cakes in the run up to Christmas.Lloyd's underwriter Catlin did well in the third quarter, managing to avoid any losses from this year's hurricane season, helping net premiums earned rise 13% for the nine months.Hikma Pharmaceuticals still thinks revenue growth for 2010 will be in the low teens and gross margin will be higher than in 2009 but that has not impressed the market too much. Financial software specialist Misys is broadening its product range with the £235m acquisition of application software group Sophis.India-focused oil and gas explorer Oilex believes that yesterday's rise in its share price is based on Indian press comment and says that there is no new information. The news deflated the share price, which rose by one-fifth yesterday.FTSE 100 - RisersRolls-Royce Group (RR.) 611.00p +4.62%Invensys (ISYS) 318.80p +2.54%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 41.91p +2.17%Tesco (TSCO) 418.60p +1.73%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,161.00p +1.57%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 69.57p +1.43%3i Group (III) 320.50p +1.39%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,917.00p +1.27%Centrica (CNA) 340.20p +1.25%Vodafone Group (VOD) 173.95p +1.19%FTSE 100 - FallersKazakhmys (KAZ) 1,498.00p -3.42%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,432.00p -2.72%Xstrata (XTA) 1,380.50p -2.71%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,562.00p -2.56%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 966.00p -2.42%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,264.00p -2.16%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,389.00p -2.11%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,362.50p -2.09%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,236.00p -2.06%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,314.00p -1.99%FTSE 250 - RisersXchanging (XCH) 119.50p +5.66%Spectris (SXS) 1,180.00p +5.17%Supergroup (SGP) 1,419.00p +5.11%Electrocomponents (ECM) 259.80p +4.80%Premier Farnell (PFL) 287.50p +4.77%Forth Ports (FPT) 1,307.00p +4.39%Sports Direct International (SPD) 133.80p +4.12%Elementis (ELM) 116.00p +3.66%Synergy Health (SYR) 800.00p +3.23%Shanks Group (SKS) 117.20p +3.08%FTSE 250 - FallersImagination Technologies Group (IMG) 362.30p -10.21%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 379.20p -4.22%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 24.50p -3.92%Victrex (VCT) 1,184.00p -3.74%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 755.00p -3.58%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 177.70p -3.42%Cranswick (CWK) 786.00p -3.38%CPP Group (CPP) 261.30p -3.08%Lamprell (LAM) 353.00p -2.78%Templeton Emerging Markets Inv Trust (TEM) 658.00p -2.59%