London afternoon: US jobs sour sentiment

8th Jan 2010 13:54

Footsie has turned down after a worse than expected US monthly jobs number. Job losses were 85,000 in December against the more optimistic forecasts of a large positive number.In the UK, Kazakhi companies Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) and Kazakhmys are on the up while Randgold Resources and BHP Billiton. ENRC has been boosted by RBS upgrading the stock from 'hold' to 'buy'.Barclays also gets a lift from broker comment, with UBS upgrading the bank to 'buy' from 'neutral', even though it has cut its earnings estimates on the back of lower base revenues than expected from the investment banking arm. In contrast, hedge fund manager Man Group is the weakest blue-chip after Morgan Stanley cut its price target for the stock from 400p to 340p, and downgraded Man from 'overweight' to 'equal weight'.Pub group Mitchells said trading in the new financial year has remained strong, thanks to sales growth across the main brands, but cautioned that it is still cautious on the outlook for consumer spending. Punch and JD Wetherspoon are up in sympathy.Sentiment among leisure stocks has been further helped by The Restaurant Group, the company behind the Frankie & Bennie's and Chiquito chains, saying it expects full-year profits to be well ahead of the top end of the range of current market forecasts. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has agreed to sell certain fund management assets and contracts of RBS Asset Management to Aberdeen Asset Management for £84.7m. Aberdeen meanwhile had a 'successful' last three months of 2009, with gross new business wins more than 3½ times the figure for the fourth quarter of 2008. Wins for the period of £9.6bn compared with £2.6bn a year earlier, but there was net funds outflow of £2.6bn said to be mainly low margin business.Recovery continued in all areas except the UK in the fourth quarter for recruiter Michael Page. Page says the UK is likely to remain a difficult market. Operating profit for the year 2009 will come in at £20m after a full year gross profit of £351.7m, down 36.4% on 2008. Sales surged at designer fashion group Ted Baker in the run-up to Christmas, with the UK in particular performing above expectations. Margins also rose on better stock control. Total sales jumped by 19.1% between 1 November and 24 December compared with last year. Spirax-Sarco, the steam valve and pump maker, expects pre-tax profits for 2009 to be above the top of the current range of analysts' forecasts. Sales for the year increased 3% from 2008, including a small contribution from acquisitions and an exchange benefit of 10%. Greeting cards retailer Clinton Cards posted a 3.6% rise in like-for-like sales in the 22 weeks to January 3 as it recovered from weak Christmas trading the previous year, but said it remains cautious on 2010.Shares in laundry and textile rental group Johnson Services fell back as it cautioned profits at its dry cleaning business had been hit by the cold weather in December. Overall, the group still expects to hit its 2009 targets, but despite management action to reduce costs, dry cleaning profits were lower than in 2008.Asset-based lender Davenham has confirmed it is seeking buyers or investors for parts of its business in a strategic review of the whole group. The announcement prompted profit takers to bale out of the stock, which has risen sharply this week.