London midday: No broker boost for FTSE 100

16th Apr 2010 12:08

Buoyancy among stocks that have received favourable broker coverage has failed to lift Footsie.RBS is going well after BofA Merrill Lynch raised its target price on the bank to 65p from 45p, highlighting its potential to benefit from economic recovery.'We still believe RBS is one of most geared banks into recovery in Europe,' the broker said. 'We think it can turn a profit in 2010 and that profitability can recover strongly thereafter driven by rising margins, tight cost control and falling bad debts.'Chipmaker ARM is higher after Goldman Sachs raised its target price on the company to 250p from 230p, saying the emergence of Apple's iPad device bodes well for the company.Its FTSE 250-listed peer CSR, which specialises in chips used for wireless communications, moves up after an upgrade to 'buy' from 'neutral' in expectation that big customers such as the mobile phone groups Samsung and Nokia.Temporary power and heating specialist Aggreko is lacking a bit of spark even after despite saying it performed in line with expectations in the first quarter of the year, with healthy revenue rises from both its divisions. Aggreko, which rents out generators used in industry and for events such as concerts, said revenues at its International Power division grew by 8%, with order intake hitting a new record. The division also provides staff to operate the equipment it rents out.Cambridge-based enterprise software giant Autonomy is the heaviest faller in the FTSE 100 though. It said its first quarter results should be in line with the market's expectations.The company expects to report revenues of around $193m and fully diluted earnings per share of about 25 cents when it publishes its first quarter results on 22 April.Miners are weak, with Rio Tinto, Randgold Resources, Lonmin and Antofagasta all down.The Office of Fair Trading has fined two tobacco manufacturers and ten retailers £225m in total after a seven-year investigation into price fixing. The watchdog said it found that the firms engaged in unlawful practices in relation to retail prices for tobacco products in the UK. Each manufacturer had a series of individual arrangements with each retailer whereby the retail price of a tobacco brand was linked to that of a competing manufacturer's brand in different periods between 2001 and 2003, according to the OFT.The tobacco manufacturers involved are Imperial Tobacco, which was slapped with a £112.3m fine, and Gallaher, as well as the retailers Asda, The Co-operative Group, First Quench, Morrisons, One Stop Stores (formerly T&S Stores), Safeway, Sainsbury's, Shell, Somerfield and TM Retail.Fund manager Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the best FTSE 250 risers after it said it has had its best quarter ever with 'unprecedented' business volumes. Total assets under administration have grown by 12.8% from £15.6bn as at 31 December 2009 to £17.6bn as at 31 March 2010.Engineering data and IT systems provider Aveva said its full year results will be marginally ahead of market expectations. The company said that the trends outlined in its late January interim management statement have continued, with progress made in the Oil & Gas and Power markets, although the Marine market remains in the doldrums.Property company British Land has bought 2 - 14 Baker Street in London from McAleer & Rushe. British Land is paying £29m for the 1950's built property which sits on the corner of Baker Street and Portman Square.Property investment group Hansteen is to buy a portfolio of 61 freehold and leasehold assets from two companies in receivership and one in administration.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 49.75p +8.27%Barclays (BARC) 392.25p +2.38%Man Group (EMG) 277.20p +2.17%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 66.75p +2.03%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 93.60p +1.57%SEGRO (SGRO) 327.90p +1.36%Schroders NV (SDRC) 1,160.00p +1.31%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,489.00p +1.29%Serco Group (SRP) 628.50p +1.29%British Land Co (BLND) 489.10p +1.26%FTSE 100 - FallersAutonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,770.00p -4.32%Xstrata (XTA) 1,261.00p -2.47%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,022.00p -1.64%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,889.50p -1.61%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,232.00p -1.52%Invensys (ISYS) 335.90p -1.44%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,536.00p -1.35%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 127.10p -1.32%Lonmin (LMI) 2,069.00p -1.24%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,255.00p -1.22%FTSE 250 - RisersGKN (GKN) 147.90p +4.45%CSR (CSR) 451.10p +2.99%Tomkins (TOMK) 252.50p +2.81%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 371.50p +2.48%Persimmon (PSN) 458.30p +2.30%Bodycote (BOY) 210.10p +1.99%St James's Place (STJ) 268.60p +1.94%Halfords Group (HFD) 491.20p +1.87%Inchcape (INCH) 32.03p +1.71%Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 637.00p +1.51%FTSE 250 - FallersAveva Group (AVV) 1,179.00p -4.46%BH Global USD Shares (BHGU) 11.07 -2.29%Logica (LOG) 142.30p -2.20%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 130.20p -2.11%Cranswick (CWK) 795.00p -2.09%Melrose Resources (MRS) 303.80p -1.94%Brewin Dolphin (BRW) 140.10p -1.82%Misys (MSY) 254.80p -1.58%Ashtead Group (AHT) 107.80p -1.55%Robert Wiseman (RWD) 507.00p -1.55%