London open: FTSE 100 builds on gains

31st May 2011 08:24

The top share index is adding to the gains it made ahead of the long weekend and homing in on the 6,000 point mark around which it has been flitting since the start of the year.On a relatively quiet day for company news, Serco, the outsourcing company whose activities include running prisons and London's Docklands Light Railway, has announced the acquisition of India-based service provider Intelenet for up to £385m.Elsewhere in the sector, outsourcing specialist Capita has acquired specialist healthcare recruitment firm Team24 for £24m, with up to £2m more payable depending on the firm's performance in the year to 31 March, 2012. Team24 made a pro forma operating profit for its financial year to 31 March 2011 of £4.2m on turnover of £32.7m.In the FTSE 250, pace is higher after it announced that the chairman of set-top box maker is stepping down after a troubled end to his five years in charge of the company. Mike McTighe will be replaced by Allan Leighton, former non-executive chairman of the supermarket Asda. Leighton joins the board today and is expected to take over as chairman in summer. Sweden-focused mineral exploration company Beowulf Mining endured a harsh winter of epic proportions but remains on course to complete its drilling programme by the end of the second quarter of 2011. In the first three months of 2011 it lost £0.13m before tax, compared to a loss of £0.01m in the first quarter of last year.FTSE 100 - RisersExperian (EXPN) 803.00p +3.48%Essar Energy (ESSR) 461.30p +2.22%Aggreko (AGK) 1,850.00p +1.98%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,064.00p +1.93%IMI (IMI) 1,050.00p +1.84%Serco Group (SRP) 567.50p +1.79%Wolseley (WOS) 2,026.00p +1.76%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,312.00p +1.71%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,180.50p +1.61%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,015.00p +1.56%FTSE 100 - FallersCairn Energy (CNE) 439.30p -0.70%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,313.50p -0.27%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 626.50p +0.08%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 835.50p +0.12%Vodafone Group (VOD) 169.90p +0.30%United Utilities Group (UU.) 626.00p +0.32%Inmarsat (ISAT) 604.50p +0.33%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,282.00p +0.35%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 307.00p +0.36%John Wood Group (WG.) 636.50p +0.39%FTSE 250 - RisersBritvic (BVIC) 450.00p +3.95%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 116.40p +3.47%Pace (PIC) 118.50p +3.13%Homeserve (HSV) 529.00p +2.72%Exillon Energy (EXI) 440.40p +2.42%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 320.00p +2.33%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 491.80p +2.27%FirstGroup (FGP) 346.70p +2.03%Soco International (SIA) 386.90p +1.90%JPMorgan Russian Securities (JRS) 651.00p +1.80%FTSE 250 - FallersRenishaw (RSW) 1,651.00p -2.88%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 97.30p -2.60%Helical Bar (HLCL) 258.70p -2.19%Grainger (GRI) 123.80p -1.75%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 644.00p -1.68%Booker Group (BOK) 67.90p -1.59%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 49.15p -1.42%Carpetright (CPR) 700.50p -1.34%COLT Group SA (COLT) 143.70p -0.96%Greggs (GRG) 521.00p -0.86%