London open: Flat start as Antofagasta and Vedanta rally

9th Aug 2011 08:26

Stocks are flat this morning, despite the predictions of a resumption of the slide, though recent volatility suggests it would be foolish to rule that out.Miners are rallying from hefty losses, yesterday, with South American copper group Antofagasta and India's Vedanta posting big gains. Precious metal miners such as African Barrick Gold and Russian gold group Petropavlovsk are adding more gains as investors continue to seek a haven from the turmoil.Weir's way is up this morning. The engineer to the oil business Weir is staging a strong recovery, after falling yesterday when Morgan Stanley cut its rating on the stock to "equalweight" from "overweight" citing margin concerns. Banks are under the cosh though, with RBS a notable faller.In company news, even Greggs, the bakery chain famous for cheap takeaway snacks, is suffering from the tough consumer environment. Like-for-like sales in the 26 weeks to 2 July were up by just 0.4% from the same period a year ago. The shares are sharply lower.Global hotels group InterContinental Hotels Group saw revenue per available room (RevPAR) grow by 6.7% from a year earlier in the first half of 2011, driven by strong demand in Greater China and the US. Second quarter profit before tax tumbled 11.9% to $111m from $126m the year before. Bank HSBC has confirmed that it is in discussions regarding a possible sale of the card and retail services business in the USA.