London midday: Footsie stays strong

26th Apr 2010 12:19

Strength in the mining sector on the back of higher metals prices has given Footsie a lift.Xstrata, Antofagasta and ENRC are going well while Kazakhmys is 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.Kazakhmys's Kazakh peer ENRC is also in the news having has taken a step towards diversifying its portfolio away from base metals produced in Kazakhstan with the announcement that it will by a 12.2% interest in South African platinum producer Northam Platinum. It will pay ZAR2.2bn ($296m) for the stake.Elsewhere in the resources sector oilfield support services firm Petrofac is in demand after its North Sea contract with Britannia Operator Limited was renewed for a five year period in a deal worth £35m. Oil giant BP 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.Intertek is weaker. 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.In the FTSE 250, engineer Weir Group is up more than 10% after saying expects profits for the first half to be ahead of expectations after a strong first quarter. It expects first half profits to be about £30m ahead of previous expectations.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. Sector peers Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Bellway and Bovis Home seem equally cheered by Redrow's statement. Plans for the transfer of the bulk of Norwegian company Det Norske Veritas's Business Assurance division to Intertek have been abandoned. "We have concluded that a satisfactory transaction can not be executed in light of various unanticipated complexities within a reasonable time period," the two companies said in a joint statement.Infrastructure contractor Balfour Beatty has sold off stakes in two of its public/private partnership concessions for £24.1m.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.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.FTSE 100 - RisersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,042.00p +4.88%Invensys (ISYS) 340.50p +4.45%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 58.20p +4.30%Wolseley (WOS) 1,715.00p +3.44%Barclays (BARC) 373.80p +3.17%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 70.50p +2.95%Aggreko (AGK) 1,256.00p +2.95%ARM Holdings (ARM) 261.90p +2.95%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,248.00p +2.80%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,466.00p +2.52%FTSE 100 - FallersBritish Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 618.00p -1.90%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,508.00p -1.37%Reed Elsevier (REL) 539.50p -0.92%WPP Group (WPP) 734.00p -0.74%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,944.00p -0.46%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,910.00p -0.37%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,985.50p -0.35%Diageo (DGE) 1,136.00p -0.35%Next (NXT) 2,337.00p -0.30%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,033.00p -0.29%FTSE 250 - RisersChloride Group (CHLD) 298.50p +42.82%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,026.00p +9.62%Ashtead Group (AHT) 127.50p +8.97%Synergy Healthcare (SYR) 636.00p +7.25%Bodycote (BOY) 245.20p +7.07%Cookson Group (CKSN) 606.50p +6.68%IMI (IMI) 735.50p +5.98%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 428.20p +4.57%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 137.90p +4.55%Rotork (ROR) 1,449.00p +4.47%FTSE 250 - FallersSVG Capital (SVI) 167.30p -1.59%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 375.30p -1.50%Britvic (BVIC) 488.90p -1.23%Hansen Transmissions International (HSN) 95.25p -1.19%Hiscox (HSX) 339.80p -1.16%BSS Group (BTSM) 300.80p -1.05%Carillion (CLLN) 353.30p -1.04%WH Smith (SMWH) 505.00p -0.98%COLT Telecom Group S.A. (COLT) 131.70p -0.98%Provident Financial (PFG) 850.00p -0.87%