London midday: Miners on the rise, defence stocks down on US fears

22nd Nov 2011 12:23

London's blue chip index held on to gains in morning trade, recovering after a six-day sell-off. While markets are still concerned with the ongoing troubles in the Eurozone, fears over the credit rating of the US eased after Standard & Poor's and Moody's reiterated their ratings last night.Nevertheless, as expected the US bipartisan 'supercommittee' admitted yesterday that they have not agreed on a plan to cut the nation's deficit by $1.2trn. "Despite our inability to bridge the committee's significant differences, we end this process united in our belief that the nation's fiscal crisis must be addressed and that we cannot leave it for the next generation to solve," according to a joint statement by Republican representative Jeb Hensarling and Democratic senator Patty Murray. The news has weighed on defence stocks in London, with BAE Systems, Meggitt and Chemring suffering. If the committee fail to come up with a plan to cut the deficit, the Pentagon - as agreed in August - will start making cuts totalling between $500-600bn from January 2013.In domestic news, public sector borrowing fell in October compared to the year before, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). However, the public sector net debt as a proportion of GDP reached 62.3%, up from 56.5% in October 2010. THOMAS COOK PLUMMETSShares in travel firm Thomas Cook have continued their downward spiral after the firm said it was in talks with its banks about borrowing more money because of a "deterioration of trading in some areas of the business in the current quarter". By midday, shares were 66% down."The company is in discussions with its principal lending banks with regards to its facilities during the seasonal low period of cash in the business," Thomas Cook said. It added that it would delay the release of its full year results, due out on Thursday, until the discussions were finished. MINERS RECOVEROn the FTSE 100, miners were in demand, recovering after bearing the brunt of the recent sell-off. Vedanta Resources, Lonmin, Xstrata and Antofagasta were among the better performers. Financials were also performing well, with Admiral and Resolution making good gains.Smith & Nephew was lower after Citi reiterated its sell rating.Emergency repair services firm Homeserve, which saw its share price more than halve last month on the back of a mis-selling scandal, fell a further 13.5% today after saying that it would realise a one-off restructuring costs of up to £10m in the second half. Nevertheless, first half pre-tax profits rose 25% to £18.2m.Specialist investment firm, asset manager and mezzanine finance provider Intermediate Capital Group rose strongly after pre-tax profits edged higher in the first half.Investors were stocking up on shares of Big Yellow Group after the storage company announced improved occupancy growth across its portfolio in the first half of its financial year. BCFTSE 100 - RisersAdmiral Group (ADM) 865.00p +6.07%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,308.50p +3.28%Vedanta Resources (VED) 975.00p +2.90%Lonmin (LMI) 1,005.00p +2.66%Xstrata (XTA) 911.60p +2.65%British Land Co (BLND) 466.00p +2.62%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,035.00p +2.58%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 236.00p +2.52%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 614.50p +2.42%Diageo (DGE) 1,317.50p +2.37%FTSE 100 - FallersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 133.50p -4.09%Meggitt (MGGT) 376.40p -2.21%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 566.50p -1.39%BAE Systems (BA.) 258.70p -1.33%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,292.00p -0.92%ICAP (IAP) 324.50p -0.86%Smiths Group (SMIN) 864.00p -0.75%Carnival (CCL) 2,060.00p -0.72%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,582.00p -0.69%Serco Group (SRP) 484.00p -0.64%FTSE 250 - RisersIntermediate Capital Group (ICP) 233.10p +11.37%Home Retail Group (HOME) 78.35p +6.17%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 256.10p +5.74%Perform Group (PER) 210.00p +5.00%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 228.40p +4.77%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 66.20p +4.25%Ashtead Group (AHT) 158.50p +4.00%Computacenter (CCC) 363.70p +3.91%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,579.00p +3.91%Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 279.10p +3.75%FTSE 250 - FallersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 13.85p -66.31%Homeserve (HSV) 215.80p -13.51%TUI Travel (TT.) 140.50p -6.71%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 80.45p -4.11%Chemring Group (CHG) 385.70p -4.05%Premier Foods (PFD) 4.99p -3.85%Supergroup (SGP) 500.50p -3.75%Exillon Energy (EXI) 277.30p -2.70%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,663.00p -2.46%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 425.20p -2.25%