London open: Bright start for Footsie

16th Sep 2009 08:42

London's blue chips have made a strong start following on from Wall St's rise after US Fed chief Ben Bernanke called the US recession over.Miners are pushing on in sympathy with Bernanke's comments led by the majors Xstrata, Rio Tinto and Anglo American.Tullow Oil is the best performer after the FT reported it is part of a consortium headed by US firm Andarko that has established a new oil frontier that stretches 1,100km along the African coast from Ghana to Sierra Leone.Fashion retailer Next is going well after it reported better than expected progress in the first half, though it kept its 'conservative' forecasts for second half like-for-like sales unchanged. Pre-tax profit for the six months to 25 July rose 7% to £185.5m, in line with analysts' forecasts.Lloyds Banking is higher despite a report that the EU could force it to divest Halifax under state aid rules. EU Commissioner Neelie Kroes has apparently rejected the proposed sale of Cheltenham & Gloucester and disposals in Scotland as not being sufficient.Ex-dividends account for many of the fallers including bid target Cadbury.Away from Footsie, miner UK Coal is to raise approximately £100m though the issue of 142m shares at a big discount to yesterday's closing price. Major shareholder Peel Holdings, which has a 28% stake, supports the share issue and will take up its full entitlement to maintain its percentage holding. The money will be raised through a firm placing (£41.7m) and open offer (£64.9m) at a price of 75p.Mark Selway, chief executive of the engineering group Weir, is to leave the company to take up a position with Australian building materials supplier Boral. He will be replaced by Keith Cochrane, currently finance director of Weir.Specialist printer De La Rue said trading remains in line with expectations underpinned by strong banknote volumes. A strong order book for currency should support year-on-year increases for banknote volumes and revenues, the firm said.Business at Synergy Healthcare is 'comfortably' meeting management's expectations, the high-flying healthcare support services group said Wednesday. 'The positive start in Q1 has continued in Q2 with notably strong cash generation and continued improvements in operating margin,' chairman Steve Wilson said in a brief statement ahead of today's AGM.