| CATEGORY: MARKET REPORT - MIDMORNING SECTOR: MINING |
London mid-morning: Footsie undermined |
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Tue 13 Apr 2010
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Market Movers
techMARK 1,665.58 -0.15%
FTSE 100 5,760.33 -0.30%
FTSE 250 10,447.42 -0.33%
LONDON (SHARECAST) - The nine worst performers among FTSE 100 constituents are all miners, reflecting softer commodity prices this morning.
Antofagasta is the heaviest faller in the mining sector, followed by silver and gold miner Fresnillo.
In economic news, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said its monthly house price balance dropped to +9 in March, down from an upwardly revised +18 in February. Economists expected a rise to +19.
UK retail sales in March rose at their fastest rate in almost four years thanks to the earlier timing of Easter this year, new figures from the British Retail Consortium show. Total retail sales rose 6.6% against only 0.6% growth in March 2009. On a like-for-like basis, sales rose 4.4% from last year when sales had dropped 1.2%.
The retail sales data has given a boost to retailers such as Kingfisher, Home Retail, Next and Sainsbury but not department store Debenhams, which saw a bout of profit taking after the company announced interim results that failed to beat expectations. Pre-tax profits rose to £114.5m from £102.2m, with revenues climbing to £1.19bn from £1.06bn.
Elsewhere in the retail sector Curry’s and PC World owner DSG International is wanted on rumours that US consumer electronics chain Best Buy is contemplating a bid.
Residential property owner Grainger expects to report a 42% jump in completed sales from its core and retirement solutions portfolio to about £78.5m in the six month ended 31 March. These completed sales include £5.2m of investment sales (sales with a tenant in place) and £14.9m of one-off sales of land and associated assets from its agricultural portfolio.
Oil Explorer Tullow has announced another find. Tullow Oil said the Kasamene-3 and Kasamene-3A wells in the Butiaba region of Uganda Block 2 have successfully delineated the extent of oil in the Kasamene field and discovered oil in the Wahrindi North fault block.
Dragonfish, the independent B2B division of 888 Holdings, has signed an extension to its existing agreement with Cashcade.
Defence and security technical services firm Cohort has won new contracts worth more than £60m in the UK defence sector.
East London focused residential property developer Telford Homes said sales in the first quarter of 2010 were better than expected and now anticipates full year results will be 'materially ahead of market expectations.'
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