London midday: Properties left behind in market rally

18th Aug 2009 12:00

Once again mining stocks are in the driving seat but today they are driving the market north, with many stocks recovering some of yesterday's heavy losses.Xstrata, ENRC, Kazakhmys and Lonmin are the picks of the mining sector, along with cash strapped Rio Tinto, which has received a $2.025bn offer for the majority of its Alcan Packaging business. Rio said the binding offer has been received from Amcor and covers the Alcan Packaging global pharmaceuticals, global tobacco, food Europe and food Asia divisions. British Land's results have disappointed and cast a shadow over the real estate sector. The property group, which owns the Broadgate development in London's financial district, saw the value of its property portfolio fall to £8.18bn in the first quarter but said the pace of decline has slowed markedly. Land Securities and Liberty International slide in sympathy.Elsewhere in the financial sector HSBC is wanted after positive comment from Goldman Sachs. The US bank reckons that HSBC Finance will stop being a major drag on HSBC's earnings from 2010 onwards, earlier than previously expected. Goldman Sachs has upgraded HSBC from 'neutral' to 'buy' and raised its price target from 580p to 820p.A joint venture including support services firm Carillion has won a 'Building Schools for the Future' contract for Durham. The market has given the thumbs up to James Fisher's acquisition of MB Faber, which provides specialist electrical and engineering services to the nuclear and aerospace industries, for up to £5.25m in cash.Car dealer Pendragon reported sharply lower profits in the six months to June 30 as recession-hit motorists held onto their old cars rather than splashing out on new ones. Respiratory inhaler firm Vectura remains "very confident" about prospects with important drug trials due to start later this year and plenty of cash in the bank.Online video services provider Amino Technologies posted an operating loss compared with a profit the same time a year before as challenging economic conditions continued hit the group. Nightclub owner Luminar can breathe a little easier on news that 95.5% of the shares available through an open offer have been taken up and buyers have been found for the remainder.Chip designer Arc International is recommending a £25.2m cash bid from US semiconductor intellectual property firm Virage Logic.The slump in construction activity hit property repair and maintenance company Rok hard in the first half of 2009, but the company is confident of meeting full year expectations, provided market conditions do not deteriorate further.Australian alternative energy developer Ceramic Fuel Cells revealed widening annual losses after it booked significant impairment charges related to losses on financial investments.US navigation equipment specialist Garmin said any offer it makes for marine electronics group Raymarine is likely to be solely in cash. Yesterday, Raymarine confirmed recent press speculation that it is in potential takeover talks with US navigation equipment specialist Garmin and with other parties.Zambia-based exploration company Kiwara said its follow-up drill programme has significantly extended the size of the strike at the company's mne in Kawako.India-focused oil and gas company Indus Gas has discovered gas on a test drilling of a new well. The Eastern Promise-1 well intersected a gas bearing interval at a depth of around 3,175 to 3,183 metres in the Early Cretaceous Pariwar formation.Trading in the shares of Dominion Petroleum resumed after the Bermuda-based oil and gas explorer announced a cash injection and its results for 2008. The company is to raise $10m through the issue of new shares to BlueGold Capital. The share purchase will give BlueGold a 20% stake in Dominion. The company said it made a pre-tax loss of $20.67m in 2008, an improvement on the $24.50m loss made in 2007.FTSE 100 - RisersXstrata (XTA) 775.50p +4.51%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 784.50p +3.43%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 892.00p +3.30%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,318.50p +3.25%FTSE 100 - FallersInvensys (ISYS) 245.60p -2.77%Land Securities Group (LAND) 597.00p -2.13%British Land Co (BLND) 486.80p -1.89%Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 865.50p -1.87%