London midday: Miners drag Footsie down

21st Apr 2010 12:04

After a hesitant start Footsie fell steadily throughout the morning session, largely because of the weakness of mining stocks, which are reacting to softer industrial metals prices. BHP Billiton is lower after a statement this morning that it may have broken US anti-corruption laws in some of its exploration projects, but the size of its fall is not particularly exceptional compared to its peers and the stock is actually holding up a little better than its great rival Rio Tinto . ARM is the best performer after the stupendous results from Apple last night driven by sales of the iPhone, which reportedly contains one or more chips designed by ARM. Fellow chip designers Imagination Technologies and Wolfson Microelectronics also rise the iPhone wave.It's game over for Game Group chief executive Lisa Morgan after the video game retailer revealed a sharp fall in profits in the year to January 31. Morgan has quit the role and will be replaced by non-executive director Chris Bell while the company searches for a permanent successor. Game's pre-tax profits totalled £84.2m, which was below expectations and sharply down from £117.4m the previous year, on turnover that slid to £1.77bn from £1.97bn. Fellow computer gaming retailer HMV falls back in sympathy.Software giant Autonomy reported record revenues and profits in the first quarter as clients loosen their purse strings after scaling back in the downturn. The firm, which uses technology borne out of research at Cambridge University, saw revenues in the three months to March 31 climb by 50% from the same period the previous year to $194.2m. Adjusted pre-tax profits climbed by 47% to $85.3m.Aerospace and defence systems group Meggitt said trading since the start of the year has been in line with its expectations of a challenging first half followed by a return to growth in the second half of the year. The group said it remains well placed to take advantage of an upturn in the civil aerospace markets which is anticipated to start benefitting the group in the second half of the year. Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl said trading in the period since 31 December has been in line with expectations. Underlying revenue in the first quarter was up 2% on last year led by North America which was 5% higher.Bookmaker Ladbrokes said it expects to receive £80m from the UK tax authorities after reaching a settlement covering substantially all the outstanding items in the tax years through to December 2007.Car and aeroplane parts supplier Senior has jumped higher after saying it expects profits for 2010 to exceed expectations after trading in the three months to March 31 got a lift from favourable currency movements and cost control and efficiency improvements. Wealth manager St James's Place enjoyed record sales of single products and a strong inflow of new money in the three months to March, as ISA and unit trust sales took off.Peru's second biggest silver miner Hochschild Mining reported a decline in first quarter production but said it is on track to meet full year targets.Hunting said trading remains in line with expectations after what the oil services specialist called a 'rapid' start to the new year. FTSE 100 - RisersARM Holdings (ARM) 250.90p +3.25%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 92.65p +2.15%Inmarsat (ISAT) 782.50p +1.62%Tesco (TSCO) 437.00p +1.39%Hammerson (HMSO) 386.50p +1.28%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 297.70p +1.12%Amec (AMEC) 878.00p +0.80%Liberty International (LII) 518.50p +0.78%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 347.20p +0.58%TUI Travel (TT.) 290.50p +0.45%FTSE 100 - FallersBAE Systems (BA.) 361.70p -4.16%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,654.00p -3.39%Xstrata (XTA) 1,178.00p -3.20%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,194.00p -3.16%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,698.50p -2.63%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,256.00p -2.48%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,127.00p -2.43%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 378.30p -2.40%Anglo American (AAL) 2,802.50p -2.35%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 594.00p -2.22%