LONDON(Commodity Online) : Headline shares remained lower at midday in London as traders digested falls on global markets driven by fears of a slowdown after disappointing manufacturing data.
At lunch, the FTSE100 was down 45.75 points trading at 5882.86 with the FTSE250 trading flat at 12,010.5, a marginal rise of 0.7 points.
In Asia today, the Nikkei closed down 165 points at 9,555, while the Hang Seng was recently off 352 points at 23,274.
London Markets
Headline shares were trading in the doldrums at lunch, slightly off morning lows but with little appetite to rise further.
Those shares seeing losses at lunch on London’s main market included ARM Holdings, off 3% at 554.25, with Antofagasta also dropping by 2.67% to 1274p.
Capital Shopping Centres Group was next in line amongst the blue chips fallers, losing 2.63% to trade at 386.15p. Rio Tinto was down 2.61% trading at 4144p.
GKN was also a casualty of the mornings trading, losing 2.56% to limp into lunch at 213.4p, with Retailing giant Kingfisher seeing a fall of 2.55% to trade at 274.9p.
Other notable losers in the morning session included Johnson Matthey, off 2.45%, Wolseley, down 2.42% and Xstrata, dropping 2.41%.
Bhp Billiton made up the top ten losers on London’s main markets at lunch, seeing a drop of 2.25%, to trade at 2338.25p.
Those shares seeing gains included Serco, which put on an admirable 2.75% to trade at 588.25p despite the adverse market conditions.
Next on the gainers list was Capita Group, up just under 1% at 730.75p. No other ble chip saw a rise of more that a quarter of a percent in trading at lunch. Porvair, the specialist filtration and environmental technologies group, has issued a trading update and said it has started 2011 well and expects to report interim profits well ahead of 2010.
Revenue growth in the first six months of the financial year is expected to be 6% at constant currency rates. Order books have strengthened throughout the period and the pipeline of potential projects is encouraging.
National Express Group has announced the appointment of two new independent non-executive directors with significant international experience.
This completes the process of proposed appointments set out in the 2010 Annual Report and referred to ahead of the recent AGM. Both directors were identified by the search process initiated by the Board in February and have been through a rigorous selection procedure. Sales at Sierra Rutile increased 11.7% to $41.1m. in the year ended 31 December, 2010.
Around $9.2m. in cash was generated from operating activities, compared with $1.8m in 2009. There was a 6.8% increase in rutile production to 68,198 tonnes.
Keith Clarke will retire from his position as chief executive and director of WS Atkins at the end of July after almost eight years in the role.
The Board has announced the appointment of Dr Uwe Krueger as his successor. Dr Krueger will join the Board on 14 June 2011 as chief executive designate and take over as chief executive on 1 August 2011.(stockmarketwire)
