London afternoon: Shares off the top

22nd Dec 2009 14:28

Leading shares came off the top over the lunch time period but most are still sporting reasonable gains, leaving the Footsie still within striking distance of its high for the year.Oil stocks are driving the index higher, particularly Cairn Energy and Royal Dutch Shell. Cairn Energy is enjoying another strong day after it announced yesterday that it would start its drilling programme in Greenland a year ahead of schedule. The shares were also split on a ten-for-one basis today in a move that was meant to improve the liquidity and marketability of the shares.Royal Dutch Shell and BP also head higher, despite the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) leaving its production quotas unchanged at its meeting in Angola today. London Stock Exchange is another stock basking in the afterglow of an announcement made yesterday, with the markets given a warm reception to its acquisition of a major stake in Turquoise, the trading platform that was set up by banks in 2008 to force LSE to lower its fees.Banks react in subdued fashion to news that the Office of Fair Trading has dropped its action to curb bank charges after last month's ruling by the Supreme Court in favour of the banks. Shares in the sector move higher but largely in line with the general market trend. Footsie newbie Aggreko claws back some of the losses suffered yesterday on its first day as a member of the blue-chip index, after Merrill Lynch recommended buying the shares.Travel shares are frozen out of the market rise, with British Airways and Thomas Cook the worst affected. The former is lower after the US Department of Justice (DOJ) suggested that the Oneworld alliance, which includes British Airways and American Airlines, could drive up ticket prices on some key routes. The DOJ suggested that the alliance may be required to give up some valuable slots at Heathrow in order to receive US backing for the tie-up.A forecast from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) that house prices will edge up only slightly in 2010 amid continued economic uncertainty has not prevented housebuilders Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments from advancing. Goldman Sachs has upgraded both stocks from 'neutral' to 'buy', along with sector peer Berkeley Group.Online poker and casino group 888 Holdings has agreed to pay almost £60m for the Wink Online Bingo business and says trading continues to be strong and in line with expectations. The UK mid-cap will buy Wink Bingo, which runs several online bingo networks including Wink Bingo, Posh Bingo and Bingo Fabulous, for an initial consideration of £11m. Gem Diamonds subsidiary Kimberley Diamonds has entered into an agreement to sell yellow diamonds from the Ellendale mine in Western Australia to Laurelton Diamonds, which is owned by the US jeweller Tiffany. A Carillion joint venture has been awarded a £157m contract to design, build, finance and maintain Phase 1b of Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).Hardy Oil and Gas has bounced off a nine-month low after announcing the third successive gas discovery in the exploration block KG-DWN-2003/1 (D3) of NELP-V in India.Cash-strapped mining company Alba Mineral has secured various loan facilities of £100,000 from directors and other parties to cover current working capital requirements. The facilities carry a fixed rate of interest of 15% per annum and will remain available to draw upon until the end of June 2011, when all the loans become due.Energy saving products maker VPhase said its loss for the year is likely to be £0.3m less than expected, thanks to tight control of costs.Gold miner Avocet Mining has rallied on news that its Inata mine in Burkina Faso has started gold production.