London close: Sluggish day for FTSE 100

3rd May 2011 16:46

Shares started well after the extended weekend, but the buoyancy soon gave way to sluggishness and the top share index closed just a few points higher.Hedge fund manager Man Group was a strong performer after it announced the launch of an AHL open-ended fund in Japan, Nomura Global Trend, which has raised $1.5 billion. The fund began trading at the end of April 2011.Shares in Smiths Group were weak after the technology group announced that the president of Smiths Detection, which makes scanners for airports, is to step down after trading "has fallen short of the Board's expectations as a result of continued delays to orders."Catering giant Compass has added to its overseas operations with the acquisition of a food service business in Sweden. It will pay 16m (£1.6m) SEK for BGP Resurs, which is based in northern Sweden and serves business, industry and leisure sectors. BGP posted revenues of 26.5m SEK in 2010.William Hill fell back. The bookmaker has signed an agreement to acquire US betting group Brandywine. The agreement comes after William Hill's recent announcement that it has signed binding agreements to acquire two sports betting businesses in the state, American Wagering and Club Cal Neva Satellite Race and Sportsbook Division. According to William Hill, Nevada is the largest US sports betting market with an estimated turnover of $2.7bn for the industry. It looks like another attempt by rebel shareholder Petr Shura to gain control of RGI, the AIM-listed developer of quality residential and retail properties within Moscow and the surrounding areas, has been thwarted. RGI's major shareholder, DES, has decided not to sell on its 40.22% stake in RGI to Synergy Classic, the company controlled by Shura.The share price of chocolate maker and retailer Thorntons has melted after it warned that profit for the year would be lower than expected as soaring temperatures hurt demand during its key Easter period. Scorching hot weather and the 'ongoing challenging retail environment' put off customers buying chocolate.Mining titan BHP Billiton said Brazilian mining company, Vale, its partner in the Samarco project, has approved the $3.5bn expansion plan for the joint venture. The expansion will increase Samarco iron ore pellet production capacity by 8.3m tonnes to 30.5m tonnes per annum. First pellet production is expected in the first half of calendar year 2014.Elsewhere in the sector Rio Tinto signalled the end of its protracted takeover bid for Riversdale by announcing that the Australian coal miner would be delisted from the Australian Stock Exchange. Rio Tinto, which controls more than 73% of Riversdale's shares after a bid battle stretching back to Christmas 2010, has taken control of Riversdale's nine-person board after Rio Tinto Energy chief executive Doug Ritchie and Rio Tinto Energy vice president human resources Rosemary Fagen were appointed as directors.FTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 258.00p +3.32%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,419.00p +2.86%TUI Travel (TT.) 245.70p +2.72%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,062.00p +2.41%Unilever (ULVR) 1,987.00p +2.32%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,666.50p +2.13%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,044.00p +2.05%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,150.00p +2.04%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,321.00p +2.01%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,026.00p +1.89%FTSE 100 - FallersSmiths Group (SMIN) 1,256.00p -5.71%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,976.00p -4.67%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,332.00p -3.41%ARM Holdings (ARM) 602.00p -2.98%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,598.00p -2.62%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,332.00p -2.56%Xstrata (XTA) 1,485.00p -2.40%ITV (ITV) 74.40p -2.17%BG Group (BG.) 1,504.00p -1.92%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,292.50p -1.55%FTSE 250 - RisersGrainger (GRI) 119.50p +3.91%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 344.00p +3.49%Premier Foods (PFD) 33.21p +3.23%Berkeley Group Holdings (BKG) 1,091.00p +2.92%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 172.70p +2.68%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 84.70p +2.67%Kier Group (KIE) 1,360.00p +2.26%SThree (STHR) 447.60p +2.24%SVG Capital (SVI) 279.80p +1.97%JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 314.00p +1.95%FTSE 250 - FallersCOLT Group SA (COLT) 144.70p -3.92%JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 426.00p -3.77%Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 445.50p -3.74%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 241.50p -3.63%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 588.50p -3.52%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 238.50p -3.40%Spirent Communications (SPT) 141.40p -3.15%Restaurant Group (RTN) 325.80p -2.75%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 295.20p -2.70%Fenner (FENR) 377.50p -2.66%