London close: Stocks cling on to gains

2nd Jul 2010 16:57

Leading shares went into a swoon in the final two hours of the trading session, taking their lead from the US which, after spending a while to analyse the non-farm payrolls data, moved lower. Despite coming off the top in late afternoon Footsie finished the day in positive territory, largely due to the strength of resource stocks. FTSE 250 constituent Dana Petroleum was the day's star performer and was largely responsible for the buoyancy of oil stocks after it confirmed last night it is in talks with a potential bidder, widely reported to be South Korean national oil company KNOC. The talk is of a bid being worth around £1.5bn though Dana said the discussions are very early stage. Tullow, Cairn, BG Group and Premier Oil were all higher in sympathy.Elsewhere in the sector BP has started to seek buyers for assets it deems peripheral to help pay for the clean-up cost of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. First on the block could be BP's 60% stake in Pan American Energy in Argentina, possibly to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). Analysts say BP's stake could be worth £6.5bn, especially if other parties express an interest. Reports today suggested Total, the French giant would have a look at the assets.The Australian government's decision to replace the controversial Resources 'Super Tax' with a more moderate alternative gave a lift to BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata. In a joint statement the trio welcomed a new Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT) that would only apply to iron ore and coal resources from 1 July 2012. The battle for ownership of Chloride looks set to come to an end after the electrical plugs and peripherals maker recommended a 375p per share bid by US giant Emerson. With Emerson's offer, shareholders also get to keep the 3.3p final dividend. In contrast, Brit Insurance is playing hard to get in its courtship with US private equity firm Apollo. The US outfit has told Brit Insurance it may be prepared to up its £10 a share bid by 50p, but the underwriter thinks this still undervalues the business.Builders' merchant Travis Perkins has seen a strong rebound in trading since March. The Wickes owner now expects its first half will beat its expectations while dividends will resume again with a 5p interim. Group revenue for the six months ended 30 June was up by 4.7%, with like-for-like sales up 3.4%. Like-for-like turnover in the last two months was 10.3% ahead in Merchanting and in the last 9 weeks 1.6% ahead in Retail. Sector peer Wolseley moved higher in Travis Perkins's slipstream.InterContinental Hotels (IHG) has sold the 422 room InterContinental Buckhead Atlanta to Maryland based Pebblebrook Hotel Trust for $105m in cash. IHG will continue to manage the hotel under a long term management contract. South Atlantic-focused oil explorer Rockhopper's samples from its recent discovery on the Sea Lion prospect, off the Falkland Islands, have been confirmed as medium grade crude. Rockhopper took the sample from the Sea Lion 14/10-2 oil discovery well in the North Falkland Basin and tested them under reservoir conditions.Mediterranean Oil and Gas is not so happy. It has acknowledged that Italian plans to stop oil companies drilling near its coastline may affect the company's key Ombrina Mare project. "Once the decree comes into force, it may apply to permit applications currently pending and may apply to the Company's Ombrina Mare project," admits the London-listed firm. Northern Petroleum is one of the lucky ones as it does not expect Italy's plans to set up a five-mile no-drill zone around its coastline will affect the AIM-listed explorer. Morgan Sindall, the construction and regeneration group, said the positive start to the year has continued and it remains on track to meet full-year expectations.Energy services group Green Compliance has paid £5m in cash and shares for Pure Group Management Limited which trades as Water Pure Systems. There's also a chunky deferred consideration to pay if Pure makes over £800,000 for the 12 months to April 2011. It reported a profit of £901,000 this year.Specialist lending business Impact Holdings said results for the year to 31 March 2010 were ahead of management's expectations. Pre-tax profit rose 11.6% to £0.32m from £0.29m the year before despite revenue sliding to £1.7m from £2.0m.FTSE 100 - RisersTullow Oil (TLW) 1,048.00p +5.70%Cairn Energy (CNE) 422.10p +5.18%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 54.50p +4.39%Barclays (BARC) 265.70p +4.05%Aviva (AV.) 315.10p +3.04%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 841.50p +2.87%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,131.00p +2.80%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,172.00p +2.72%Xstrata (XTA) 868.60p +2.70%BG Group (BG.) 1,025.50p +2.35%FTSE 100 - FallersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 581.50p -5.52%Inmarsat (ISAT) 704.00p -1.61%BP (BP.) 323.00p -1.51%BT Group (BT.A) 126.10p -1.48%Vodafone Group (VOD) 136.50p -1.34%3i Group (III) 259.20p -1.33%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,045.00p -1.30%Experian Group (EXPN) 578.00p -1.03%Unilever (ULVR) 1,742.00p -0.85%Burberry Group (BRBY) 739.50p -0.80%