London open: Good start for Footsie

29th Dec 2009 08:46

London's top stocks have made a decent start to the week after the extended weekend break, with miners among the top performers.There were good showings elsewhere, with the Nikkei index in Japan hitting a four-month high overnight and the German DAX closing above the 6,000 mark for the first time since September 2008. Smith & Nephew is the best performer along with TUI Travel and RSA. Miners are also going well. Xstrata, Vedanta Resources, Kazakhmys and Lonmin are in demand.HSBC and British American Tobacco are among the worst performers. Elsewhere, unemployment will peak at 2.8m in 2010, according to the latest forecast from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a reduction of nearly 400,000 from its previous peak estimate of 3.2m.The Institute expects unemployment to rise steadily over the next six months from the current figure of 2.49m, even though the UK economy may show a recovery.Those in work may also face lower real income as pay rises will be below inflation and many staff will have to accept pay freezes or pay cuts to stay in employment. FTSE 100 - RisersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 643.00p +2.23%Xstrata (XTA) 1,110.00p +2.02%TUI Travel (TT.) 253.30p +1.97%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 121.10p +1.68%Prudential (PRU) 641.50p +1.66%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,582.00p +1.65%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,308.00p +1.55%Lonmin (LMI) 1,908.00p +1.49%Smiths Group (SMIN) 995.00p +1.48%Pearson (PSON) 891.00p +1.48%FTSE 100 - FallersHSBC Holdings (HSBA) 708.80p -1.40%G4S (GFS) 262.10p -1.02%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,120.00p -0.97%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,018.00p -0.71%3i Group (III) 277.10p -0.61%British Airways (BAY) 190.90p -0.57%Barclays (BARC) 274.45p -0.56%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 276.00p -0.36%Next (NXT) 2,058.00p -0.34%British Land Co (BLND) 446.60p -0.31%