London open: BP holds back Footsie

25th Mar 2011 08:54

London has moved higher but BP is acting as a drag and retailers have run into some profit taking. Yesterday's big news about the blocking of BP's $16bn joint venture with Rosneft came too late to be reflected in the share price performance last night, but the shares are slipping back as the UK firm looks for a compromise.African Barrick Gold has had further successes with its drilling programme on the Nyanzaga project in Tanzania. Infill drilling continues to show good continuity of gold mineralisation throughout the Tusker deposit with further wide zones encountered on several sections.Euromoney Institutional Investor, the business publisher and exhibitions organiser, is trading in line with expectations and will make at least £40m in the half-year to 31 March. "Sales trends over the past three months have been broadly positive, particularly for the events businesses for which the third quarter is the most important of the year," the firm said Friday.Canary Wharf owner Songbird Estates's recovery continued in the second half of last year as property values picked up and occupancy rose to 97.1%. Online gaming company 888 said that the Nevada Gaming Commission has approved the relationship between Dragonfish, 888's business-to-business arm, and Caesars Interactive Entertainment. The ruling relates to state law in Nevada that covers Nevada gaming companies conducting gaming outside the state of Nevada.Europe-focused Aurelian Oil & Gas has run into problems at the Siekierki multi-frak well Trzek-2 where the stabilised flow rate is now likely to be less than originally expected. The firm, which had been predicting a flow rate of about 8m standard cubic feet per day of gas (mmscf/d), said the test had been delayed by two weeks due to mechanical problems.