News

Leading shares are mixed, but investors will probably settle for that after last night's record fall on Wall Street, when the Dow Jones 30 fell 777 points following the rejection by US Congress of the planned $700bn mortgage bail-out.

Excluding banks and commodity plays the Footsie leaderboard is predominantly blue, with a number of stocks recovering from the battering received yesterday, with inter-dealer broker ICAP and hedge fund manager Man Group both clawing back losses sustained following trading updates yesterday.

Tesco has helped settle some nerves. Britain's biggest retailer met expectations with a 10.3% rise in first-half pre-tax profits despite the tough retail environment. Underlying pre-tax profit rose to £1,453m in the 26 weeks ended 23 August with sales, including VAT, up by 14.1% to £28.1bn.

Enterprise Inns is also going well. It forecast underlying earnings will fall by about 5% for the second half of the year and 3% for the full year overall, but dividends will be in line with market expectations. Plans to convert to a REIT have been put on hold. Punch Taverns and Mitchells & Butlers have rallied in sympathy, but smaller rival Pubs 'n' Bars is weaker after warning that factors like the smoking ban and cheap supermarket alcohol are expected to hamper its second half performance.

Royal Bank of Scotland issued a statement saying its acquisition of parts of ABN Amro will not be affected by the sale of Fortis's interests in RFS Holdings, but its shares slumped nonetheless. HBOS is also under pressure but its merger partner Lloyds TSB is firmer.

Oil groups are lower on the slide in the crude price overnight, with BP and Royal Dutch Shellleading the way down. Miners are mixed, with Xstrata holding on to early gains but Lonmin, Vedanta and Kazakhmys are in the red.

Computer games retailer Game Group reported a better-than-expected first half performance and raised its guidance for full year like-for-like sales from 5-10% to 8-12%.

Plumbing supplies distributor BSS anticipates that revenues and earnings for the first half will be in line with expectations, with positive like for like growth, despite the more uncertain economic environment. The group's financial position remains strong and there have been no material event or transaction in the period.

Bus and train revenue growth has continued strong at FirstGroup in the half year to September. "With excellent prospects for growth in all our markets the outlook remains positive," it said.

Shares in FirstGroup were also given a boost by a note from Collins Stewart retaining its 'buy' recommendation on the bus and train operator.

KBC Peel Hunt has lowered its recommendation on Dawnay, Day Treveria (DDT) to 'reduce' from 'hold' after the German property group's interim results.

Finncap has lowered its rating on cheese and butter maker Dairy Crest to 'hold' from 'buy', citing the squeeze of higher input costs and weak economic conditions.

Defence and security company QinetiQ has completed its restructuring of its Europe, Middle East and Asia operations ahead of plan and under budget. In a pre-close trading update the board confirmed that the company continues to perform in line with expectations.

Domino's Pizza is wanted ahead of a third quarter trading update tomorrow which may see internet based orders rise above 25% for the first time.

Electric vehicle specialist Tanfield powered forward after saying that despite posting a half-year loss there will be no need for any fund raising.

Joinery group Galiform is firmer, having clarified its exposure to the rescue programme of kitchen group MFI. Galiform is the guarantor of the rent and associated costs payable under the leases of 46 properties occupied by the MFI Retail operations, and faces a possible bill of over £23m per year if MFI shuts down 100 of its branches

FTSE 100 - Risers
ICAP (IAP) 314.75p +8.82%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,316.00p +5.70%
Wolseley (WOS) 416.00p +5.05%
Old Mutual (OML) 74.10p +4.81%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,650.00p +4.56%
Man Group (EMG) 318.50p +4.26%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 210.75p +3.95%
Kingfisher (KGF) 133.20p +3.82%
Prudential (PRU) 512.00p +3.80%
Carnival (CCL) 1,679.00p +3.71%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
HBOS (HBOS) 115.30p -18.80%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 164.80p -8.95%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 95.20p -2.96%
Lonmin (LMI) 2,051.00p -2.70%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,139.00p -2.65%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 552.50p -2.56%
Centrica (CNA) 311.25p -2.43%
Friends Provident (FP.) 88.80p -2.42%
BP (BP.) 457.25p -2.09%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,598.00p -1.96%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Punch Taverns (PUB) 136.75p +13.49%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 177.00p +12.56%
Persimmon (PSN) 408.00p +9.60%
Aricom (ORE) 25.00p +8.70%
Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) 55.50p +8.29%
Micro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 300.00p +8.01%
Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 196.25p +7.83%
BSS Group (BTSM) 229.25p +7.63%
Elementis (ELM) 67.25p +7.60%
Kier Group (KIE) 823.50p +7.37%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Fenner (FENR) 168.00p -5.35%
Cattles (CTT) 77.50p -5.20%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 67.25p -4.95%
DSG International (DSGI) 49.50p -4.81%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 176.00p -4.61%
WSP Group (WSH) 338.50p -4.58%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 392.00p -3.63%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 275.25p -3.42%
BBA Aviation (BBA) 107.75p -3.36%
Babcock International Group (BAB) 469.50p -3.35%