News

London finished a dismal day entrenched in the red, with investors piling out of miners and as a near $2 a barrel slide in crude prices battered oil issues.

Miner Kazakhmys announced a rise in copper production for the third quarter but said the level of other metals mined fell. Copper cathode production grew 9% though compared with the second quarter.

Switzerland-based miner Xstrata dipped as it received overwhelming support for its £2.9bn rights issue to fund the purchase of Falconbridge, with 99.4% of shareholders taking up the offer.

Fellow miners BHP Billiton, Vedanta Resources and Lonmin also eased.

Oil heavyweights BP, Cairn Energy and Royal Dutch Shell were down in the dumps as crude prices slipped $1.88 to $58.87 a barrel.

Drug group Shire ended as the worst performer though after Deutsche Bank dropped its target price on the shares to 1,272p on product delays and competition worries.

Pearson also fell despite reporting nine-month total sales up 11% and operating profit up 26%. It said the fourth quarter is a key selling season in higher education and consumer publishing, but added it was confident that 2006 will be another good year.

News that Cadbury Schweppes will maintain its current revenue growth target for 2007 but will abandon a specific target for operating margins, took its toll. The chocolate group will look to grow annual revenues between 3 and 5% per annum and grow operating margins "over time".

Argos-owner Home Retail Group was hit hard after JP Morgan started coverage on the retailer with an 'underweight' recommendation and a 390p price target.

UK insurer Standard Life featured among the risers after reports emerged over the weekend that French insurer AXA is considering a £7bn takeover approach for the group.

Drax and Centrica extended last week's gains on the back of news that Morgan Stanley is planning to invest $3bn in the carbon trading market. British Energy turned lower after a good start.

Meanwhile, ITV fell after The Mail on Sunday said the broadcaster is weighing up an offer for SMG, which owns Virgin Radio as well as the commercial television franchise for Scotland.

In economic news, mortgage approvals hit their highest level for two and a half years, with the figure up to 126,000 in September versus 120,000 the month before.

Elsewhere, online gamer 888 confirmed that it has had various preliminary discussions with third parties following suspension of its US activities. Weekend reports suggested it had held merger talks with PartyGaming.

Insurer and underwriter Catlin has made a recommended takeover offer for fellow insurer Wellington worth 121p a share made up of 0.17 Catlin shares and 35p cash.

US tech-focused investment firm Silverstar Holdings has agreed a 7p cash per share takeover offer of UK computer games firm Empire Interactive worth £4.75m.

Infrastructure software house Autonomy said it has entered into a multi-million pound contract with the UK government to deploy Autonomy IDOL Server software, although initial gains were wiped out.

Property maintenance group Connaught's pre-tax profit rose 46% to £13m last year. Trading since the year end has been in line with expectations, with a high degree of earnings visibility and improving margins further underpinning the group's prospects, it added.

Claims People's insurance consultancy services division turnover this financial year will substantially exceed the 2005 figure of £350,000. It also indicated a significant advance order that will impact during the first quarter of 2007.

DDD Group, the software and content firm, raced ahead after it signed its first agreement to supply 3D content for mobile with a leading SIM card manufacturer.

ImmuPharma closed higher Monday as data from phase II trials of IPP-201101 to treat autoimmune disease Lupus showed a "significant" improvement in the clinical status of a number of patients.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Hanson (HNS) 727.50p +2.32%
Prudential (PRU) 641.00p +1.67%
Drax (DRX) 817.00p +1.62%
Standard Life (SL.) 287.50p +1.59%
Kelda (KEL) 875.50p +1.57%
Friends Provident (FP.) 194.00p +1.04%
Rolls-Royce (RR.) 464.25p +0.92%
Capita Group (CPI) 539.00p +0.84%
Smith and Nephew (SN.) 510.75p +0.74%
Legal & General (LGEN) 142.25p +0.71%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Shire (SHP) 940.00p -2.79%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,185.00p -2.55%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 399.25p -2.26%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,432.00p -2.19%
BHP Billiton plc (BLT) 1,000.00p -2.06%
Xstrata (XTA) 2,221.00p -1.94%
Tesco (TSCO) 393.50p -1.87%
BP (BP.) 591.50p -1.74%
ITV (ITV) 105.00p -1.64%
Pearson (PSON) 769.00p -1.54%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Wellington Underwriting (WUN) 117.75p +5.61%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 159.75p +3.40%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 188.00p +3.01%
Kier Group (KIE) 2,043.00p +2.30%
JJB Sports (JJB) 208.25p +2.21%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 548.00p +2.14%
Computacenter (CCC) 255.00p +1.90%
Headlam Group (HEAD) 545.50p +1.77%
Speedy Hire (SDY) 1,038.50p +1.76%
St James's Place (STJ) 382.00p +1.73%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 292.25p -3.94%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 109.00p -3.54%
Catlin Group (CGL) 491.50p -3.34%
Wetherspoon (JDW) 555.50p -2.80%
Hays (HAS) 146.75p -2.65%
Biffa (BIFF) 258.25p -2.55%
RIT Capital (RCP) 941.00p -2.49%
Whitbread (WTB) 1,388.00p -2.46%
EMAP (EMA) 782.00p -2.37%
Intertek Testing Services (ITRK) 818.00p -2.27%