London pre-open: Footsie eyes 8 in a row

22nd Jul 2009 07:40

A late recovery in the US last night is set to get London off to a good start as it looks to close higher for the eighth trading day in a row.Better than expected earnings from a host of Wall Street's biggest names outweighed cautious comments from Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke to leave US blue chips up again. After hours, Apple improved the mood further by posting record third quarter results. The iPhone maker's earnings jumped to $1.23 per share on revenue 12% higher at $8.34bn. Both totals were well ahead of market estimates. The underlying trend for metals demand is still being masked by restocking activity, according to BHP Billiton, and demand for commodities generally is mixed as China has rebuilt its stocks. "The 2009 financial year proved to be very challenging, with significant demand contraction exacerbated by dramatic movements in inventory levels," the miner said in its latest annual production update. Engineer GKN has received the backing of 95.4% of shareholders for its £423m fundraising. Over 807m of the shares available through the fully underwritten 6 for 5 rights issue at 50p were taken up. JP Morgan Cazenove and UBS will now seek a home for the 39m unwanted shares.Just over 91% of shareholders at Marston's have backed the brewer and pub owner's £176m fully underwritten 11 for 10 cash call at 59p. The firm has been criticised for earmarking the money to finance expansion rather than reduce its £1.2bn debt pile.Business publisher Euromoney saw heavy falls across three of its revenue streams in the last three months and cautioned that the fourth, subscriptions, is also now slowing. Total revenues for the quarter to June 30, 2009 fell by 11% to £84.2m. Revenues from subscription-based products, particularly those delivered electronically, increased at a healthy 20% compared to a year ago.