London afternoon: Footsie in drift mode

7th Apr 2010 14:46

Footsie is becalmed after a weak start in the US and mixed news on the UK economy.Hedge fund giant Man remains the best performer. Last night the company disclosed that the net asset value of the AHL fund had risen 3.81% last week, prompting brokers Execution Nobel to rush out a 'buy' note, while Shore Capital has also chipped in with some upbeat commentary. The stock is the best performing blue-chip.Kingfisher is also going on the back of a bullish broker note from Charles Stanley, which has upgraded the DIY chain to accumulate from hold. Other general retailers are also going well ahead of an update from Marks & Spencer tomorrow.Mobile phone giant Vodafone is to launch a customised version of Opera, the popular Internet browser, to run on low-cost handsets on 2G networks in a move aimed at developing markets. Property stocks are also going well on a broker comment. UBS has made a quick tour through the UK properties sector and revised its ratings for Land Securities and Hammerson upwards, while British Land is moved the other way. Among second-liners electrical parts distributor Electrocomponents is top of the charts after seeing sales put on a growth spurt in February and March. The company thinks profit before tax in the year to 31 March 2010 will be around £73m, compared to market expectations of around £68m.Heritage Oil is going the other way on a mixed report from Kurdistan. Heritage Oil is to dig its Miran West-2 test well in Kurdistan deeper than originally planned after results proved much less productive than its first test well, though it says it has identified areas that could add significantly to reserves.Food sales from its managed pubs continued to lead growth at pub group and brewer Marston's in the half year to April 3. The company remains on track to meet expectations for the full year.Specialist insurer and reinsurer Beazley has announced its preliminary estimate of its exposure to claims arising from the Chilean earthquake and the European windstorm Xynthia. The company expects the losses from the earthquake to be in the range of $55m to $75m, though uncertainty still surrounds the full scale of the losses.Power peripherals supplier Chloride enjoyed a satisfactory fourth quarter and expects to meet expectations for the year to March. Orders at the year-end were 16% higher than the previous year.Balfour Beatty has announced its second contract win in as many days, and this time it is for work on a terminal at Dallas Fort Worth airport. The infrastructure specialist contractor said a joint venture of which it is a member, along with Azteca Enterprises, H J Russell and CARCON Industries, has been selected to carry out preconstruction and construction services for the seven-year terminal development programme at the airport.Losses widened at PetroLatina in 2009 as the Colombia-focused oil and gas group continued working to increase production. The company posted a pre-tax loss of $12.8m, compared with $4m the previous year, as revenue rose to $13.8m from $7.8m.