News

London has opened flat with yesterday's fall in the oil price lifting fuel users at the expense of the oil suppliers, which have run into a bout of profit taking.

British Airways and Carnival are the two best FTSE 100 stocks at present with Easyjet and Ryanair also rallying strongly. The one exception is struggling tiddler Silverjet, which looks to be on its last legs after it grounded its operations with immediate effect after it failed to seal a deal to keep the business flying.

BG is one of the worst performers after Australia's Origin Energy rejected its revised £6.6bn bid saying its coal seam gas reserves alone were worth more than the offer. Origin said it would now focus on how to get the best value from its reserves, possibly through partnerships or a break-up of the company. BG said it is considering its options.

Other oil companies are down with the oil price, which slipped $4 per barrel overnight in the US, with a review pending by US authorities into possible market rigging by speculators. BP and Shell are down in a weak sector.

Telecoms regulator Ofcom is to review of the prices that BT's Openreach wholesale arm can charge rivals to use its network in the light of significant increases in competition in the market. Ofcom the consultation would be in a two stages and it aimed to publish a final statement before the end of this year.

Stockbroker Brewin Dolphin lifted interim pre-tax profits to March by 4.9% to £21.8m with total income up 6.2% at £104.1m (2007: £98m) after a strong performance from its discretionary fund management activities. Discretionary funds under management were £10.4bn. "Despite difficult conditions we expect a creditable outcome from your group for the year," it added.

Property investment firm Wichford saw its net asset value for the half-year slump 35% due to the difficult market conditions, though trading profit rose 39%. Net asset value for the six months fell to 136.4p compared to 218p in the same period last year.

The Independent this morning reports that Ping An, the Chinese insurer, has dropped out of the running to buy Royal Bank of Scotland's insurance business yesterday, leaving five potential buyers for the parent of Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege. Those remaining in the bidding process are Zurich Financial Services; Allstate, Travelers, American International Group of the US; and Germany's Allianz.

Telecoms solution group Leadcom said Old Lane will no longer make an investment in the group because of current market conditions. Leadcom said in March that it had received a non-binding offer from Old Lane for investment in Leadcom, subject to due diligence.

Controls and instrumentation engineering group Kentz shares were in demand Friday morning after the company announced a major order from Qatar.