News

London had a mixed morning, with the Footsie edging marginally higher despite the majority of its constituents being in the red. Bank shares are primarily responsible for keeping the benchmark index's head above water as they advance on reports that the FSA will increase the protection limit for deposits in UK banks from £35,000 to £50,000 on Tuesday of next week.

HBOS, Lloyds Bank, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland all boast gains of 5% or more.

Oils remain weak, however, with the oil price heading for its biggest weekly decline in four years, oil stocks are generally unloved, notwithstanding the sharp rise by Regal Petroleum on bid speculation. Petrofac, Cairn Energy, and Wood Group are the big losers in the oil sector.

Regal Petroleum, however, shoots up, after denying reports that Shell has made a 300p per share bid. The Telegraph this morning said that the Anglo-Dutch oil giant had written to the company's chairman, Keith Henry, within the last few days with an offer worth £1.2bn. A spokesman for Regal this morning told reporters it has "seen no such letter".

Elsewhere in the oil sector Premier Oil is lower despite announcing a discovery in the Al Amir SE-1 well, which has been drilled in the onshore North West Gemsa Concession, Egypt.

Hardy Oil and Gas said the exploratory well GS01-M1 has been plugged and abandoned after porosity development was observed in the Oligocene target but no proper seal was present.

Small-cap oil and gas explorer Elixir Petroleum has had to delay the restart of production at its High Island field because of damage to the offshore pipeline.

House builder Taylor Wimpey's discussion with its banks and debt holders to redraw its banking covenants will not be concluded before next year. The shares head lower, with one broker - KBC Peel Hunt - even suggesting that the banks would be better served by letting the company fail than continuing to prop it up.

London Stock Exchange is in the dumps after Credit Suisse advised clients to trim their holdings as the exchange comes under increasing competition from rival bourses. The Swiss bank has cut its rating on the stock to "under-perform".

Imperial Tobacco is also hit by broker comment as Citigroup expressed a preference for British American Tobacco. The US bank has cut its rating on IMPs to "hold" from "buy" and pared its price target from 2120p to 2010p.

On the bright side, Old Mutual is going well after the group said it has paid £47m to settle a dispute dating back to 2002 between susbdiary Skandia and its former asset management arm. Banks are also buoyant ahead of this evening's vote in the US House of Representatives on the $700bn Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP).

Marks & Spencer is also on the up after JP Morgan upgraded the retail giant from "neutral" from "underweight" after yesterday's second quarter trading update. The US bank believes that Marks & Spencer has been too optimistic about the economy over the last couple of years, and thus has expanded too much and over ordered. This has resulted in a sharp uplift in operating costs which JP Morgan is now pleased to see the company is addressing.

Autonomy, the search software specialist that was recently elevated to the FTSE 100, succumbs to profit taking after saying it expects to report record third quarter 2008 results, with revenues and earnings per share (adjusted) ahead of consensus estimates and at or above the top end of the range.

Lower cargo volumes and reduced flight schedules over the winter in Europe have prompted John Menzies to warn on profits this year.

Outdoor clothing retailer Blacks Leisure warned it expects to report a wider pre-tax loss in the first half following difficult trading in August. The group said it now expects that the loss before tax for the first half will be about £4.5m before exceptional items, compared to a loss before tax and exceptional items of £0.6m in the previous year.

Plastics and fibres group Filtrona has agreed to buy the business and assets of Michigan-based Lendell Manufacturing for $35m in cash.

Marketing services firm Freshwater said overall pre-tax profit for the year ended August 2008 will be approximately £1.2m, well ahead of the prior year although below market expectations.

A rare spot of good news in the house building sector after Abbey, which builds homes in the UK, Ireland and Prague, said it had seen a slight improvement in trading as the autumn selling season gets underway.
FTSE 100 - RisersHBOS (HBOS) 194.00p +14.05%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 286.00p +9.16%
Barclays (BARC) 363.75p +7.62%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 188.40p +7.05%
Old Mutual (OML) 77.10p +6.20%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,589.00p +3.92%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 261.50p +2.45%
Tesco (TSCO) 401.50p +2.08%
Alliance Trust (ATST) 283.25p +1.98%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 355.75p +1.93%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 546.00p -5.94%
Fresnillo (FRES) 278.00p -5.20%
International Power (IPR) 332.25p -5.14%
British Airways (BAY) 169.00p -5.11%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 847.50p -4.61%
TUI Travel (TT.) 212.25p -4.39%
Compass Group (CPG) 337.25p -4.05%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 1,825.00p -3.44%
John Wood Group (WG.) 314.75p -3.38%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 830.00p -3.26%