News

London erased a large chunk of an early triple digit loss, although a weak mining sector cancelled strength on Wall Street and bid talk surrounding Liberty International.

Shopping centre owner Liberty rallied on takeover hopes after specialist mall owner Westfield announced a 2.96% stake and property investor Simon Property Group took its holding past 4%. A Credit Suisse upgrade to 'neutral' also helped.

WPP improved ahead of the advertising firm's interims due tomorrow, while defensive qualities attracted investors to drug giants Shire and GlaxoSmithKline.

But falling metal prices hurt miners, leaving the leading index in the red. Ukranian ferrochrome producer Ferrexpo was worst of the bunch, but Kazakhmys, Anglo American and Eurasian Natural Resources kept it company.

Rio Tinto reported a 55% surge in underlying earnings to a record $5.47bn and record net earnings of $6.91bn, up 113%, in the half year to June. Both figures were ahead of market forecasts and received a boost by the acquisition of Alcan and strong demand from China. Rio ended just lower.

Oil stocks were led lower by Cairn Energy even though it swung from an operating loss of $18.7m to a profit of $44.2m in the half-year to June as its average price per barrel of crude more than doubled. Revenue jumped to $180.4m from $138.7m. Oil prices fell early on, but recovered later.

John Wood also dropped despite a 46% rise in first-half profit to $181.3m and predictions it will beat full-year expectations. Revenue at the oil services group jumped 19% to $2.53bn.

Russia-focused oil producer Imperial Energy expects to recommend a 1,250p per share offer from ONGC Videsh worth about £1.4bn. Terms are being finalised.

Meanwhile, India and Nigeria focused Hardy Oil fell back as it abandoned an exploratory well on its GS-01 block in India. It also revealed a net profit of $6.2m, up from $1.9m, in the half year to June.

Housebuilder Bovis shrugged off a drop in profit of more than 80% to finish higher. Profits in the six months to June tumbled from £58.4m to just £9.5m on sales of £149m, down from £259m. But the sector was given a lift by a report in Building magazine suggesting lenders have agreed to relax Taylor Wimpey's loan covenants. It had been feared that the company would have to issue new capital to tide it over the housing slump.

Temporary power and temperature control supplier Aggreko expects full year performance will exceed market expectations after a strong first half. Profit before tax rose nearly 43% to £67.9m thanks to strong demand in emerging markets and the rewards from heavy investment in the new rental fleet.

KBC Peel Hunt reacted by maintaining its 'hold' rating on Aggreko while lifting its earnings estimates on the company.

The broker also raised Domino's Pizza to 'buy' from 'hold', saying the pizza delivery company is doing too well to be blown off course by a period of weaker demand.

Elsewhere, IT services group Axon has been snapped up by a Indian rival, Infosys, for £407m, while hazardous waste management company Augean surged on news it has received a number of preliminary bid approaches.

Broadband and telecoms systems company BATM Advanced Communications is on target to fulfil its forecast of sparkling full-year results after reporting sharply increased profits at the interim stage. Pre-tax profit in the first six months of 2008 rose 161% to $14.9m from $5.7m in the first half of last year, on revenue that jumped 68% to $66.4m from $39.6m.

Irish building group CRH revealed a 10% drop in half year profit as it experienced more difficult trading conditions and a weaker dollar.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Liberty International (LII) 995.50p +5.34%
WPP Group (WPP) 506.50p +3.05%
FirstGroup (FGP) 593.50p +2.15%
Next (NXT) 1,043.00p +2.05%
Kingfisher (KGF) 129.50p +1.97%
Shire Ltd (SHP) 965.00p +1.95%
GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,268.00p +1.68%
Thomson Reuters (TRIL) 1,483.00p +1.51%
British Airways (BAY) 245.25p +1.34%
Drax Group (DRX) 746.50p +1.29%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 244.50p -8.77%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 321.50p -5.65%
Rexam (REX) 386.00p -3.62%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,530.00p -3.47%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,311.00p -3.46%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,001.00p -3.10%
TUI Travel (TT.) 207.25p -3.04%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,780.00p -3.00%
Old Mutual (OML) 95.00p -2.96%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 96.40p -2.72%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 52.00p +14.29%
Henderson Group (HGI) 121.00p +5.68%
HMV Group (HMV) 140.25p +4.66%
Carillion (CLLN) 328.75p +4.28%
Arriva (ARI) 773.50p +4.10%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 345.00p +3.99%
Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 602.00p +3.79%
Unite Group (UTG) 234.50p +3.76%
Dimension Data Holdings (DDT) 51.75p +3.50%
Bellway (BWY) 602.50p +3.43%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 75.00p -11.76%
Mecom Group (MEC) 18.75p -10.71%
Aricom (ORE) 41.75p -10.70%
Hardy Oil & Gas (HDY) 418.00p -9.82%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 76.50p -7.83%
Rightmove (RMV) 297.75p -6.95%
JPMorgan Russian Secs. (JRS) 599.00p -6.33%
Southern Cross Healthcare Group (SCHE) 115.25p -6.11%
Punch Taverns (PUB) 269.50p -4.94%
TR Property Investment Sigma Shares (TRYS) 66.00p -4.69%