London midday: FTSE 100 roars past 6,000 points

4th Jan 2011 12:01

The top share index's storming start to 2011 continues, with the FTSE 100 now well clear of 6,000 points and sitting at levels not seen since the first half of 2008.Among today's high fliers is BP, with the oil giant boosted by reports that rival Shell looked into making a bid for the company in the wake of last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which sent BP's share price plummeting. The higher oil price is also good news for oil stocks. Banks are strong led by Royal Bank of Scotland on good economic data coming out of Europe and the US yesterday, while Bank or America's settlement with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has eased some concerns over US mortgage liabilities. Barclays and Lloyds are also going well.Silver miner Fresnillo's almost straight line increase in its share price since August shows no sign of stopping. The shares are up 75% in four months after record production in its third quarter and booming metal prices. Meanwhile Randgold Resources is a rare faller amid a lack of appetite for gold's safe haven qualities. In company news, no frills airline easyJet is to exercise its option to take delivery of 15 Airbus A320 aircraft between 2012 and 2014. It has agreed new options over a further 33 A320 aircraft, while 20 of the A319 aircraft which easyJet had contracted to acquire from Airbus have been converted into orders for A320 aircraft.Cairn Energy has agreed a contract to tie-up two drilling vessels for its 2011 exploration programme offshore Greenland. Subject to approval from the government of Greenland, Cairn intends to drill up to four wells in 2011. Cairn has also entered into a stand-by secured revolving debt facility of $900m that will also provide funding for general corporate purposes. Desire Petroleum crashed again as it confirmed drilling at its 25/5-1 well on the Dawn/Jacinta prospect in the North Falkland Basin has reached target depth but failed to find any oil.The rig will now move to Rockhopper Exploration which will drill "one or two wells", subject to regulatory approval, before returning to Desire to drill a well at a location still to be finalised and subject to regulatory approval.Construction and engineering group Costain has been awarded a highways contract by Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. The £59m contract is to construct 4.5 kilometres of dual carriageway access road from the M4 Junction 38 into Port Talbot and the docks, as well as completing the link to Junction 42 on the M4 and West Wales.Bid target Blacks Leisure saw strong underlying trading through December, with like-for-like sales in its Outdoor stores up by over 10%, though last year's retrenchment meant sales fell overall.Chemring, the military decoy flares and mine detection firm, said its US subsidiary, Non-Intrusive Inspection Technology (NITEK), has won a $38.4m contract from the US Army. Trading during the fourth quarter has been "buoyant" at software solutions developer Delcam which now predicts 2010 profits will top forecasts. Both software licence and maintenance sales for the last three months of the year, typically the group's most active trading period, were ahead of management expectations across all the major markets in Europe, Asia and North America.FTSE 100 - RisersBP (BP.) 489.50p +5.14%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,750.00p +4.92%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 40.95p +4.81%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,655.00p +4.28%Aviva (AV.) 409.80p +4.27%Carnival (CCL) 3,103.00p +4.06%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.32p +3.99%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,311.00p +3.97%British Airways (BAY) 283.30p +3.96%ARM Holdings (ARM) 440.00p +3.95%FTSE 100 - FallersIMI (IMI) 939.50p -0.58%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,245.00p -0.57%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,177.00p -0.34%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,774.00p -0.34%Aggreko (AGK) 1,478.00p -0.27%G4S (GFS) 254.20p -0.16%International Power (IPR) 437.40p -0.05%GKN (GKN) 222.10p -0.05%Inmarsat (ISAT) 673.50p 0.00%Experian (EXPN) 799.00p +0.13%FTSE 250 - RisersKenmare Resources (KMR) 34.80p +6.42%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 93.95p +5.98%Sports Direct International (SPD) 169.80p +5.93%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 628.50p +5.54%Inchcape (INCH) 374.80p +5.10%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,694.00p +4.96%Informa (INF) 426.80p +4.74%Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 255.10p +4.72%Logica (LOG) 137.10p +4.66%Home Retail Group (HOME) 196.90p +4.46%FTSE 250 - FallersRPS Group (RPS) 223.50p -2.99%Sportingbet (SBT) 60.05p -2.67%Marston's (MARS) 112.10p -2.10%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 303.70p -2.03%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 197.00p -1.99%COLT Group SA (COLT) 135.90p -1.31%Croda International (CRDA) 1,599.00p -1.05%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,536.00p -0.90%Dignity (DTY) 713.50p -0.90%Avis Europe (AVE) 235.10p -0.80%