London midday:Attempted rally falters

23rd Jun 2010 11:58

Mining stocks are weighing the Footsie down as London follows Wall Street's lead and heads south.American investors took flight following weak housing data and Asian markets followed suit this morning. Reflecting that, miners are down with recently floated FTSE 100 new boy African Barrick Gold leading the sector lower.Xstrata is not far behind African Barrick, having been hit by a price target reduction from 1581p to 1571p by Morgan Stanley. The broker has also trimmed its price target for Lonmin from 2065p to 2047p.Rio Tinto, meanwhile, is lower on reports that the government in Guinea is threatening to withdraw part of the company's Simandou iron ore concession.In economic news, the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) was split on keeping interest rates at 0.5% at its last monthly meeting for the first time since rates were slashed to their current record lows, minutes show.The MPC voted 7-1 in favour of keeping rates at 0.5%. The dissenting MPC member, Andrew Sentence, voted for an increase of 25 basis points to 0.75%.Kesa Electricals, the company behind TVs-to-washing machines retailer Comet, traded in line with expectations during the 12 months to 30 April, but it's the French chain Darty that's behind a 28% recovery in profits to £98.6m. Rail and bus firm Stagecoach's profits beat market expectations despite raising earnings guidance as recently as the end of April. Underlying profit before tax in the year to 30 April were £161.3m, down from £196.4m the year before. Central Europe focused lender International Personal Finance said trading has been ahead of plan so far in 2010. Credit issued is growing steadily and credit quality in all markets is good, the company said. Premier Inn owner Whitbread would be interested in snapping up rival low-budget hotel chain Travelodge were its owners to put it up for sale, newspaper reports suggest. Graphics chip designer Imagination Technologies predicts the number of devices sold that use its chips could quadruple over the next few years. Revenues for the year to April 2010 rose 26% to £80.9m (2009: £64.1m). Pre-tax profits soared to £10.2m from £2.7m. The Capital Pub Company claims to have outperformed its peers with its full year results as London's pub scene remained more buoyant than the rest of the UK. Revenue in the year to 27 March 2010 rose 11% to £22m from £19.8m the year before, while adjusted profit before tax climbed 32% to £2.7m.Thor Mining, digging for gold in Western Australia, has slumped after saying it is asking investors for £2.7m to help fund exploration and evaluation of the Dundas project and evaluation of new projects.Chinese company Bluestar Secutech, which specialises in video surveillance for banking clients, said the market picked up in the second half of the year enabling the group to hit its full year targets. For the year ended 31 March 2010, revenue increased by 22% while profit before tax was up by 46.9%.SVG Capital, which invests in private equity funds run mostly by Permira, will pocket £36.7m after the private equity giant and other owners agreed to sell Cognis for an enterprise value of €3.1bn (£2.6bn).Shares in Aim listed software group Third Quad Capital shot ahead as it said it enjoyed improved fortunes during the first half of 2010.FTSE 100 - RisersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 60.91p +3.24%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,077.00p +2.38%Reed Elsevier (REL) 501.50p +1.64%Kingfisher (KGF) 231.70p +1.44%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 47.71p +1.34%Cairn Energy (CNE) 438.00p +1.15%BP (BP.) 337.50p +0.99%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 92.10p +0.99%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,268.00p +0.96%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 350.90p +0.72%FTSE 100 - FallersWolseley (WOS) 1,525.00p -2.37%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 625.00p -1.88%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,159.00p -1.86%Xstrata (XTA) 1,029.50p -1.77%Old Mutual (OML) 111.90p -1.58%ICAP (IAP) 425.50p -1.57%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,391.50p -1.55%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 83.55p -1.53%Unilever (ULVR) 1,872.00p -1.53%Experian Group (EXPN) 620.50p -1.51%