London midday: Miners push Footsie higher

6th Oct 2009 12:06

After a hesitant start, London's blue-chips have kicked on with mining stocks leading the way.Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, Randgold Resources, Vedanta, Anglo American, Xstrata and ENRC are the pick of the risers in the mining sector as metal prices head higher.Reaction to Tesco's results was initially negative, but the stock has been carried higher by the general market trend. The supermarket giant made profits of £1.42bn, up 1.5%, in the six months to August, adding it is well-placed for the global recovery. Pre-tax profits were up by 1.5% in the 26 weeks ended 29 August, while sales increased by 8.3% to £30.4bn.GlaxoSmithKline has received another 22 orders for a further 149m doses of its H1 N1 swine flu vaccine. The latest orders bring the total number of of doses ordered for GSK's pandemic vaccines to 440m. Discussions continue with governments for further supplies, GSK added. The shares received an additional boost from the US Food and Drugs Administration endorsing Glaxo's experimental kidney cancer drug Votrient.Goodfellas pizza and Fox's biscuits group Northern Foods said group sales and operating profit remain in line with market expectations. Like for like sales on a value basis rose 2.9% year on year in the 26 weeks to 26 September, while volumes were up 2.5%. Total sales were flat, reflecting closure of the Fenland factory last year and lower volumes at the Hull plant.Kurdistan-focused oil group Gulf Keystone has discovered oil in the upper portions of the Triassic section of the Shaikan - 1 exploration well. A limited test resulted in oil rates up to 2,000 bopd and associated gas rates of up to 2 mmscf/d, yielding a gas/oil ratio of approximately 1,000 scf/bbl. The shares jumped by more than a quarter yesterday.Elsewhere among the oil explorers, Caza Oil & Gas has struck lucky with its first well in the Abo/Wolfcamp horizontal oil play in New Mexico, USA. The company made a hydrocarbon discovery at the Lucky Penny 10 State #1 horizontal well in Lea County, New Mexico. While in Russia, JKX Oil & Gas says it is encouraged by the test results from the first well drilled in its Koshekhablskoye field, located in the Republic of Adygea, Russia.Construction and engineering contractor Balfour Beatty has been named as preferred bidder for a schools project in Blackburn and Darwen. The 25-year concession entails the building or remodelling of nine schools in Blackburn and Darwen, in the north west of England, by 2015.The share price of European Goldfields climbed on after the company announced progress on its plans to develop operations at its metal deposits at Skouries and Olympias in Northern Greece. The Ministry of Environment, Physical Planning and Public Works has issued a positive official endorsement of the preliminary environmental impact study submitted by European Goldfields' 95% owned subsidiary Hellas Gold.FFastFill, provider of Software as a Service (SaaS) to the global derivatives community, expects to return to profitability in the first half and said market conditions appear to be stabilising.FTSE 100 - RisersKazakhmys (KAZ) 1,064.00p +6.19%Antofagasta (ANTO) 785.00p +5.16%Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,400.00p +4.91%SEGRO (SGRO) 355.70p +4.43%FTSE 100 - FallersShire Plc (SHP) 1,046.00p -2.33%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 84.15p -1.52%Burberry Group (BRBY) 500.00p -0.60%Friends Provident Group (FP.) 83.40p -0.12%