London open: Very quiet start

30th Dec 2009 09:03

There is very little movement so far this morning among London's blue chips despite a dip overnight in Asia as investors fretted about metal prices.Oil shares in contrast are strong this morning as the price of crude rose to $79 on the prospect of a very cold US winter and rising longer term demand as the global economy recovers. Cairn Energy is the best performer this morning with oil infrastructure group Petrofac also higher. Rio Tinto, Xstrata and Randgold Resources lead the miners lower.Industrial property group Segro has sold its stake in two shopping centres, Surrey Quays in London and Clifton Moor in Yorkshire, to British Land for £26.9m. Segro invested in the centres 20 years ago in a joint venture with Tesco, which is the main tenant at both sites.Stockbroker Panmure Gordon is looking forward to next year with confidence. "We expect the momentum in the UK business to continue into 2010 and in the US we are now starting to make some targeted senior hires in anticipation of a much better year ahead," it said.Vehicle replacement firm Accident Exchange lifted underlying interim profits to £4m from £2.4m,adding talks with its banker on extending its working capital facilities were nearing conclusion.