London open: Footsie fights back

21st Jan 2010 08:17

United Utilities, Tullow Oil and a bunch of miners are leading London's blue chips higher in early dealings following yesterday's sharp losses.Water company United Utilities is to cut its dividend to 30p in fiscal 2010/11 from 34.3p as it seeks to conserve cash to meet the requirements of the industry regulator's price review.Tullow Oil said its Tweneboa-2 exploratory appraisal well, some 6 km southeast of the Tweneboa-1 discovery, has intersected a significant combined hydrocarbon column.Among the miners, Lonmin, Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, Xstrata and Randgold Resources are on the rise, recovering some of yesterday's losses.Supermarket giant Morrisons is lower despite reporting a 6.5% rise in like-for-like sales over the Christmas period, beating comparable figures from rivals Tesco and Sainsbury. In the 6 weeks to 3 January, like for like sales grew by 6.5% (6.8% including fuel), while total sales excluding fuel were up by 11.2% (10.8% including fuel). London Stock Exchange revenue fell 9% during the third quarter, reflecting 'testing' market conditions, particularly in cash equities trading. Revenue dropped to £154.9m in the three months to 31 December, down from £169.4m a year ago, a 12% decline at constant currency, although it's up 4% on the previous quarter.Pubs group Enterprise Inns said recent trade has been variable, though Christmas business was strong. The group said there are signs that trade in what it termed its 'better quality pubs' is continuing to stabilise. Across the whole estate the year on year decline in average net income per pub eased to around 4% in the 16 weeks to 16 January, from around 8% during the last financial year. Condom maker SSL International said it remains on track to achieve its target of increasing earnings per share by 50% over the three years to March 2012.Fixed income fund manager BlueBay has delivered a bigger than expected 10.4% increase in assets under management (AuM) for the second quarter and is optimistic about 2010.Payment services group PayPoint reported a 3% rise in revenues and said trading has been 'satisfactory'.The last quarter of 2009 saw funds under management at wealth manager St. James's Place rise by more than a billion pounds. Financial adviser Begbies Traynor said interim pre-tax profit soared 32% as the number of insolvencies increased but it expects full year results to be slightly below current market forecasts after a weak performance at its tax practice. FTSE 100 - RisersUnited Utilities Group (UU.) 529.00p +4.03%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,362.00p +2.79%Lonmin (LMI) 1,925.00p +2.39%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,392.00p +2.20%Antofagasta (ANTO) 997.00p +2.05%Xstrata (XTA) 1,165.00p +2.01%British Airways (BAY) 206.10p +1.93%Randgold Resources (RRS) 4,915.00p +1.80%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 242.20p +1.76%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 57.40p +1.59%FTSE 100 - FallersMorrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 295.30p -1.17%Cairn Energy (CNE) 345.10p -0.52%Carnival (CCL) 2,254.00p -0.27%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,282.00p -0.24%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 563.00p -0.18%Schroders (SDR) 1,336.00p -0.15%Vodafone Group (VOD) 135.90p -0.04%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 487.00p -0.04%