London open: Miners offset RBS rally

25th Feb 2010 08:12

London's top stocks opened lower despite a set of despite figures from RBS suggesting there is light at the end of the tunnel for the bank. The drop comes even though Royal Bank of Scotland's shares jumped by more than 6% after the open.The part-nationalised bank saw its net attributable loss narrow markedly in 2009 with fourth quarter impairments 5% lower than the third quarter. Net attributable loss in 2009 was £3.6bn, down from £24.3bn in 2008. The market consensus had been for a loss of £3.85bn, though forecasts varied wildly. Lloyds, which is due to report tomorrow, is the second biggest riser.Capita is the biggest blue chip faller after the outsourcing giant announced a strong improvement in pre-tax profits, but the rise still came in below market forecasts. Pre-tax profit for the year ended 31 December rose to £258.1m, up from £226.6m in 2008 but below broker forecasts of £321m. However, underlying pre-tax profits increased to £325.1m from £277.2m last time. Revenue came to £2.69bn compared with £2.44bn last time, in line with expectations.Miners are also dragging the index lower, with Eurasian Natural Resources, Rio Tinto, Xstrata, Kazakhmys and BHP Billiton all among the worst performers.The world's second largest tobacco company, British American Tobacco increased pre-tax profit by 11% in 2009, at the lower end of expectations, although revenue did better. Revenue rose 17% to £14.21bn, or 10% at constant rates of exchange, on good pricing momentum and volume from acquisitions.Centrica bounced back through the billion pound profit barrier and announced a 5% dividend rise. Profit on a continuing basis was up 15% to £1.104bn in the year ended 31 December (2008: £964m). Net written premiums of £6.7bn in 2009 were up 4% on 2008 levels at insurer RSA Group. Profit before tax tumbled 27% to £554m from £759m in 2008. Property group SEGRO saw its adjusted net asset value (NAV) per share slip to 362 pence at the end of 2009 from 459p on a pro-forma basis as the end of 2008. Adjusted profit before taxation improved to £104.3m from £89.3m the year before.Drinks brands giant Daigeo has kissed and made up with brewing colossus SABMiller in their dispute over Diageo's move to acquire a stake in Tanzania's Serengeti Breweries.Automotive and aerospace engineer GKN said full year trading profit halved but the outlook for its major markets is mainly positive. Trading profit fell to £152m for the year ended 31 December 2009 from £221m the year before. Sales for the period were down 3% at £4.2bn.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 38.45p +6.42%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 54.91p +2.65%Carnival (CCL) 2,458.00p +1.19%Centrica (CNA) 273.30p +0.44%SEGRO (SGRO) 326.00p +0.31%Pearson (PSON) 899.00p +0.28%BT Group (BT.A) 116.40p +0.26%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,213.00p +0.25%Vodafone Group (VOD) 141.25p +0.18%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,366.00p +0.07%FTSE 100 - FallersCapita Group (CPI) 717.50p -3.56%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,010.00p -2.04%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,307.00p -1.65%Wolseley (WOS) 1,555.00p -1.52%Prudential (PRU) 601.00p -1.48%Xstrata (XTA) 1,034.50p -1.48%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,198.50p -1.46%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 651.50p -1.44%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,313.00p -1.43%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,976.00p -1.37%