London open: Equities becalmed

1st Dec 2011 09:19

Footsie has been bobbing above and below the 5,500 level this morning as the market takes a pause for breath after yesterday's mad rush higher.REPAIR TO THE PUBDIY retailer Kingfisher is a top performer after a well-received trading update. The B&Q owner saw year-on-year like-for-like (LFL) sales growth of 1.3% in constant currency terms in the 13 weeks to October 29th, despite stores in the UK & Ireland seeing LFL sales slide 0.7%. Real ale brewer and pub chain owner Greene King saw adjusted profit before tax in the 24 weeks to October 16th rise 5.0% to £77.2m from £73.1m at the interim stage last year. Revenue rose 9.0% to £527.5m from £484.1m, with food sales up 16%. Current trading is strong, the company said, with retail like-for-like sales up 4% in the last six weeks.ENGINEERS TAKE A FEW DENTSEngineers and miners are proving a drag on the index in the early going. GKN and Rotork join their peers in the doldrums after announcing small deals this morning. GKN has offloaded its Aerospace Engineering Services Business in the UK and Australia to QuEST Global Services and QuEST Global Engineering for an undisclosed sum. Rotork has beefed up its valve kits offering through the acquisition of privately-owned Prokits.In other mergers and acquisitions activity, reinforced polymer technology manufacturer Fenner has acquired the operating assets of Allison Custom Fabrication, a firm which specialises in the design, engineering, machining and metal fabrication of customised material handling equipment, primarily for the mining markets of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.Yule Catto, the Essex headquartered polymer business, has sold its pharmaceuticals division, Uquifa, to the Indian firm Vivimed Labs, for £35m.Rio Tinto, the Anglo-Australian mining giant, has claimed victory in its agreed bid for Canadian firm Hathor. So far, shareholders representing just over 70% of the Canadian uranium explorer's issued share capital have accepted Rio's offer, which values Hathor at $654m.FTSE 100 - RisersKingfisher (KGF) 264.70p +3.56%Amec (AMEC) 890.00p +2.48%G4S (GFS) 259.90p +1.48%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 149.60p +1.42%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 21.28p +1.38%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,124.00p +1.35%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,402.00p +1.30%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 500.30p +1.17%Sage Group (SGE) 293.30p +1.10%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,728.00p +0.82%FTSE 100 - FallersIMI (IMI) 778.50p -2.44%Lonmin (LMI) 1,044.00p -2.43%GKN (GKN) 190.30p -2.16%BT Group (BT.A) 186.50p -1.84%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,043.00p -1.79%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,164.00p -1.69%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,028.00p -1.55%ICAP (IAP) 350.20p -1.44%Essar Energy (ESSR) 229.70p -1.29%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,887.00p -1.26%FTSE 250 - RisersSThree (STHR) 250.80p +3.38%Perform Group (PER) 218.60p +3.21%International Personal Finance (IPF) 203.00p +3.05%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,725.00p +3.02%Premier Foods (PFD) 6.04p +2.98%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 74.60p +2.90%Phoenix Group Holdings (DI) (PHNX) 570.50p +2.79%Bellway (BWY) 747.50p +2.54%RPC Group (RPC) 344.60p +2.47%Supergroup (SGP) 470.70p +2.19%FTSE 250 - FallersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 17.19p -6.01%Petropavlovsk (POG) 694.50p -4.21%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 261.00p -3.33%Misys (MSY) 244.20p -2.83%Grainger (GRI) 106.70p -2.82%Telecom Plus (TEP) 779.50p -2.81%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 186.40p -2.56%Devro (DVO) 260.00p -2.44%Shanks Group (SKS) 105.40p -2.41%Henderson Group (HGG) 113.50p -2.41%--jh