News

Footsie is halfway to emulating last night's 11% rise on Wall Street, with resource stocks leading the charge.

The concerted efforts by governments world-wide to shore up the financial system is having a beneficial side effect on the minerals and oils markets, which had been depressed on fears that a global slow-down would dampen demand.

Tullow Oil, Petrofac, Royal Dutch Shell and BP leads the oil sector higher while Vedanta is at the forefront of the miners advance after reporting record output of aluminium, zinc and iron ore in the half year to September 30. Kazakhmys, Vedanta and BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto are also strong gainers. Copper is heading for its biggest two-day gain in more than 20 years.

Concerns that the merger between HBOS and Lloyds TSB may collapse are hitting the shares of the two merger partners. The government has agreed to underwrite huge share issues from both banks and at current prices looks like it will be left with huge stakes in the pair, making a full-on nationalisation a possibility.

Brewer SABMiller's financial performance has been in line with expectations during the six months ended 30 September thanks to favourable exchange rates, although slower volumes have constrained profit growth. Revenue at constant exchange rates improved more than 5% thanks to firm pricing, offsetting the impact of higher costs.

Chocolate maker Cadbury upped revenue by 6% during its third quarter, in line with expectations, and enjoyed continued double digit growth in emerging markets, up 13%. "Despite weaker economic conditions, we expect strong profit growth for the year and reconfirm the revenue and margin guidance we gave in July," said boss Todd Stitzer.

Housebuilder Bellway has announced write-downs of £130.9m after completing 6,556 sales in the 12 months ended 31 July, 14% less than last year. With the massive exceptional charge and a drop in turnover to £1.15bn from £1.35bn in 2007, pre-tax profit for the period slumped to £165.7m from £234.8m last time.

Hotel to coffee chain owner Whitbread posted interim profits up by nearly a quarter as budget hotel chain Premier Inns lifted like-for-like sales by over 10%. Underlying profits in the six months to August rose by 24% to £123.3m. Like-for-like sales rose 7% with total revenue up 12.6% at £682m. Pre-tax profits rose to £117m from £93m. "Since the end of August the group continues to make good progress across its leading brands in value for money sectors," chief executive Alan Parker said.

Condom and footcare product supplier SSL International said growth in its two core brands, Durex and Scholl resulted in a 22% rise in sales in the six months to September 30. Sales during the period totalled £320m compared with £263m over the same period a year ago.

Fashion group Burberry lifted first half sales by 13% as wholesale and retail growth outweighed a licensing dip and problems in Spain. Retail revenue rose by 14%, with comparable store sales growth of 3.4%. Wholesale revenue increased by 15% though licensing revenue fell by 3%.

Gem Diamonds reported continued strong production at its various operations but is seeing the effects of weakening diamond prices.

Aim listed Chinese orange plantation owner and operator Asian Citrus revealed a 25.3% increase in annual net profit and is confident of further growth.

Shares in sterilisation and infection control firm Synergy Healthcare were looking sickly after the company said higher than expected costs have hit operating margins in the first half. Broker Teathers has responded by cuttings its stance on the stock from "buy" to "hold".

FTSE 100 - Risers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 602.00p +17.23%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 475.00p +16.28%
ICAP (IAP) 391.75p +14.21%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 938.50p +12.80%
Barclays (BARC) 241.00p +11.96%
3i Group (III) 587.50p +11.48%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,149.00p +10.37%
Amec (AMEC) 580.00p +10.37%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,081.00p +10.15%
Inmarsat (ISAT) 399.75p +10.12%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 156.30p -3.52%
Fresnillo (FRES) 203.00p -2.87%
Schroders (SDR) 881.00p -2.11%
Standard Life (SL.) 255.25p -1.83%
Kingfisher (KGF) 125.40p -1.34%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 691.50p -1.00%
HBOS (HBOS) 89.40p -0.67%
Next (NXT) 1,048.00p +0.10%
SABMiller (SAB) 973.00p +0.31%
British Energy Group (BGY) 733.00p +1.66%