London close: Higher finish for sluggish Footsie

10th Dec 2010 16:40

Footsie limped into the blue heading into the weekend after a day in which foreign economic news was the main point of interest.Miners were the centre of attention after strong Chinese import figures demonstrated the Asian economic powerhouse's thirst for commodities. Imports jumped to 37.7% from 24.2%.Vedanta, Fresnillo and ENRC are among the top risers. In economic news here, producer output prices rose less than expected in November having surged the previous month. The amount charged for goods leaving factories rose by 3.9% from the same period a year ago against expectations of a 4.1% rise. Prices were up by 0.3% from the previous month, much less than the 0.6% month-on-month rise seen in October. Standard Chartered had another bad day, with investors still a little unsettled by the bank's admission yesterday that costs are rising faster than revenues. BofA Merrill Lynch has lowered its rating on the bank to 'neutral' from 'buy'.Rolls-Royce was another faller on a report this morning that the cost of putting right its Trent 900 engine could hit $500m.Prudential is going well on an upgrade from US broker Morgan Stanley to 'overweight' from 'equal-weight'. 'The shift to a more balanced approach will help fuel a re-rating of the shares,' said the investment bank. Associated British Foods and Anglo American are the other top risers.Property company British Land and investment firm Blackstone Group have submitted planning application for 5 Broadgate, the office building in the City that initially will be let out to Swiss banking giant UBS.Down a division, infrastructure specialist Balfour Beatty has won a contract extension in conjunction with London Underground. The five-year contract, worth around £110m to Balfour Beatty, is to carry out track renewal work. Oilfield services firm Wood Group has been awarded a five-year gas turbine Term Maintenance Agreement by Stadtwerke München, Germany's largest municipal gas and electricity company.Flybe, Britain's biggest domestic airline, has priced its flotation at 295p, valuing the carrier at £215m. Conditional dealings start this morning. The airline will sell 20.4m new shares, some 28% of the company, which will raise about £60m for the carrier.Rentokil Initial has parted company with Stuart Godman, managing director of its struggling parcels and courier business City Link, after the business showed no improvement over last year. Communications network group Norcon warned pre-tax profit for the full year is expected to be considerably lower than previous expectations. "Higher than expected expenses related to unusual end of service costs of specific personnel and aborted acquisition activities, as well as reduced gross margins in the second half of 2010 mainly related to said delays in new projects," is expected to cause the shortfall in annual profit Norcon explained. Building materials supplier Ensor said robust progress continued at the group as the second half of the year starts well. Pre-tax profit surged to £404,000 for the six months ended 30 September 2010 compared to £71,000 the year before. Revenue for the period increased to £10.8m from £10m previously. Operating profit jumped 146% to £463,000.FTSE 100 - RisersVedanta Resources (VED) 2,275.00p +3.17%Cobham (COB) 209.50p +2.90%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 965.00p +2.88%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,377.00p +2.38%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 650.50p +2.28%Essar Energy (ESSR) 578.50p +2.03%BAE Systems (BA.) 330.40p +1.76%Xstrata (XTA) 1,441.00p +1.48%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,255.00p +1.46%Centrica (CNA) 324.50p +1.18%FTSE 100 - FallersStandard Chartered (STAN) 1,762.50p -2.62%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,108.00p -2.55%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,885.00p -2.53%BG Group (BG.) 1,303.00p -2.29%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 41.69p -1.47%Barclays (BARC) 272.20p -1.38%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,091.00p -1.27%Compass Group (CPG) 577.50p -1.11%Bunzl (BNZL) 710.00p -1.11%Serco Group (SRP) 573.00p -1.04%FTSE 250 - RisersAfren (AFR) 142.90p +5.07%Elementis (ELM) 131.00p +4.97%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,830.00p +4.81%Hansen Transmissions International NV (DI) (HSN) 61.00p +4.36%Carpetright (CPR) 800.00p +4.17%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 168.40p +3.95%Ocado Group (OCDO) 161.00p +3.87%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 548.00p +3.69%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 338.00p +2.95%Gartmore Group Ltd. (GRT) 103.20p +2.69%FTSE 250 - FallersImagination Technologies Group (IMG) 363.90p -4.86%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 26.20p -2.96%Regus (RGU) 81.60p -2.51%Berkeley Group Holdings (BKG) 911.00p -2.31%Persimmon (PSN) 417.80p -2.25%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 141.80p -2.14%Avis Europe (AVE) 205.10p -2.10%Kier Group (KIE) 1,342.00p -2.04%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 321.30p -1.89%Bellway (BWY) 650.00p -1.81%