London midday: Stocks off the bottom

24th Jun 2010 12:06

Leading stocks are off their lowest levels but the Footsie remains in the red with little hope of a boost in sentiment from Wall Street, where US stocks are expected to open moderately lower.Mining stocks are out of favour after an initially bright start. Early enthusiasm for miners was engendered by the ousting of Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd. He has been replaced by Julia Gillard, who is expected to be less gung-ho about taxing mining companies. The new prime minister has already halted the government's advertising campaign promoting the proposed windfall tax on mining companies' profits. BHP Billiton responded by binning its own counter-ad campaign. More international matters have overtaken concerns about Australia's tax treatment of mining companies, and with worries over Europe's debt crisis resurfacing mining stocks are high on many traders' sell lists. ENRC, Kazakhmys, Lonmin, Fresnillo, Rio Tinto and Anglo American are the sector's biggest decliners so far.BP said the lower marine riser package (LMRP) cap containment system was successfully re-attached on its blow-out well in the Gulf of Mexico.Yesterday, oil spewed uncontrolled back into the Gulf of Mexico after the cap containing the spill was removed because fluid seemed to be leaking. The group said the containment cap was "reinstalled on the Deepwater Horizon's failed blow-out preventer (BOP)" at around 1830 CDT on June 23 and the system resumed collecting oil at 1900.BP's peer BG Group confirmed the "success" of a new well known as Tupi on block BM-S-11 in the Santos Basin pre-salt, offshore Brazil. "The information obtained from this well and other wells already drilled, reinforces the estimate of a potential 5 to 8 billion barrels of recoverable light oil and natural gas from the Tupi pre-salt reservoirs," said the group.Oilfield support services group Petrofac is on track to meet full-year expectations and said it has made good progress on the first phase of its Turkmenistan project.Supermarket giant Tesco has received a vote of confidence from renowned stock picker Warren Buffett. Buffett's investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway, has lifted its stake in Tesco above 3% after purchasing just under 2m shares on Tuesday.In other sectors, British American Tobacco has announced that its chief operating officer Nicandro Durante will become chief executive of the maker of Lucky Strike cigarettes in February, when Paul Adams steps down from the role. The Brazilian-Italian will become chief executive designate on September 1 and will be succeeded in his current role by John Day.DSG International reported a slightly better than expected full-year profit and said it expects profitability to continue to improve in the coming year. The Currys and PC World owner's underlying pre-tax profit rose to £90.5m in the 52 weeks ended 1 May from £56.1m last time. Societe Generale was looking for a pre-tax profit of £85m, in the middle of the £80m to £90m consensus range.Train, bus and parking firm Go Ahead said it remains confident of meeting full year expectations for the current despite a difficult period for the travel industry. Overall, we are pleased with the group's performance, Newcastle based Go-Ahead said in a statement. However it remains cautious on the near term prospects for the UK economy.Insurance firm consolidator Resolution has confirmed its acquisition of the French insurer AXA's life insurance businesses, to be funded by a £2bn rights issue. It will pay £2.750bn for the businesses, including £2.25bn in cash and £500m in shares. Shares in Resolution were suspended last week as it confirmed the takeover discussions for AXA's UK protection and annuities arms and also its group pensions business.Software group Micro Focus reported a 39% rise in annual profits but saw its shares dive on the departure of chief financial officer Nick Bray.Private label personal care products supplier McBride is another stock getting a hammering. It expects full year revenue growth, on a constant currency basis, to be flat after a weak final quarter and as raw material prices continue to rise.Dana Petroleum sinks lower after a mixed set of drilling results. It has made two new discoveries in Egypt, but the shares fell as it reported disappointing results in two other locations.Packaging and office products firm DS Smith narrowed losses last year and said the current year has started in line with expectations.Energy efficiency firm Eaga said trading for the year is in line with expectations and added that chief financial officer Ian McLeod will step down.Chip designer Imagination Technologies is on the back foot after Panmure Gordon downgraded the stock from "buy" to "hold". The broker said: "Imagination's market position in graphics looks very strong; however competitive noise could affect pricing on some level. Consequently we are upgrading our long term royalty volume expectations, but reducing our royalty rate expectations. After a strong run, the stock looks fully valued."Shares in Conexion Media jumped after the entertainment and media rights management group said it had signed an option agreement with the publisher Harper Collins to turn the children's books 'Have a Go Harvey' into an animated series.FTSE 100 - RisersUnited Utilities Group (UU.) 533.00p +2.21%Centrica (CNA) 304.70p +1.91%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 269.40p +1.55%Vodafone Group (VOD) 142.60p +1.10%Tesco (TSCO) 400.20p +0.93%SEGRO (SGRO) 264.70p +0.91%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,240.00p +0.81%ARM Holdings (ARM) 287.20p +0.81%National Grid (NG.) 504.00p +0.80%Carnival (CCL) 2,391.00p +0.59%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 980.50p -3.02%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,136.00p -2.82%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,047.00p -2.81%Lonmin (LMI) 1,595.00p -2.57%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,219.00p -2.56%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,033.00p -2.46%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,313.00p -2.27%WPP Group (WPP) 676.00p -2.24%Anglo American (AAL) 2,566.50p -2.08%Invensys (ISYS) 269.30p -1.97%