London midday: Corporate activity picks up, but technical resistance looms

8th Jan 2013 11:51

UK stocks are now registering slight gains - and recovering most of yesterday's scant losses - as investors opt to overlook the release of some weaker than expected economic indicators from the Eurozone.That ahead of the beginning of the formal earnings season, Stateside, later today, when aluminium giant Alcoa releases its latest quarterly results. Nevertheless, it must be had in account that stocks are currently trading near so-called 'oversold' levels, which may weigh on the advance, and just below technical resistance at the 6,100 point level. Goading stocks higher is the renewed news-flow surrounding heavy corporate activity. UK construction stocks are performing well following Deutsche Bank's decision to upwardly revise its price targets for the majority of the shares under its coverage, with its favourite picks being Bovis Homes, Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group. Acting as a backdrop, all seems quiet for today as regards the Eurozone's periphery crisis and the extremely difficult negotiations expected on Capitol Hill. Nevertheless, and of possible import, an adviser to China's central bank has been cited as saying that it will be more cautious in the second half of the year regarding its monetary policy. Vodafone gains; Barclays closes the gapTelecoms titan Vodafone was a high riser after Verizon Communication's CEO said that a purchase of Vodafone's stake in their joint venture Verizon Wireless is feasible, according to The Wall Street Journal.For its part, Barclays is today continuing to make up for its underperformance versus its UK peers last year, while TUI has been laid low by a downgrade out of analysts at Morgan Stanley. Insurance peers Standard Life, Legal & General and RSA Insurance were heavy fallers in the opening hour after Bank of America Merrill Lynch downgraded its ratings for all three groups.Mining giant Anglo American gained after appointing Mark Cutifani of AngloGold Ashanti as CEO to replace Cynthia Carroll. Cutifani will take the reins in April with a pay packet worth around £2.38m, including salary and bonuses. Canadian miner Barrick Gold has abandoned plans to sell its majority stake in London-listed African Barrick Gold (ABG) to a Chinese buyer, causing shares in the latter to plummet this morning.Debenham's is lower after saying that it now expects gross margin for the year to be 10 basis points higher than last year rather than 20 basis points as previously guided. Nautilus Minerals is rocketing higher following a hostile bid from Michael Bailey, an individual, and an entity controlled by him, to purchase all of the outstanding shares of the company. Roxi Petroleum saw its shares more than double in value after a Kazakh businessman, Alpamysovich Satylganov, said he would invest 40m dollars in the firm at a huge premium to the current price. FTSE 100 - RisersVodafone Group (VOD) 163.70p +2.54%Barclays (BARC) 294.45p +2.52%Anglo American (AAL) 2,050.00p +2.47%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 256.70p +2.31%Carnival (CCL) 2,451.00p +2.12%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 340.70p +2.04%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,948.00p +1.78%ARM Holdings (ARM) 811.00p +1.44%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,675.00p +1.33%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 336.00p +1.30%FTSE 100 - FallersTUI Travel (TT.) 276.00p -3.70%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,240.00p -2.44%Whitbread (WTB) 2,468.00p -1.79%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,300.00p -1.66%Croda International (CRDA) 2,326.00p -1.36%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 783.00p -1.32%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,755.00p -1.13%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 811.50p -0.98%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 368.70p -0.89%Babcock International Group (BAB) 990.00p -0.75%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 43.78p +7.97%Bumi (BUMI) 305.80p +6.00%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 281.70p +4.80%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 612.50p +3.64%Man Group (EMG) 90.60p +3.42%Interserve (IRV) 411.90p +3.36%Chemring Group (CHG) 272.60p +3.22%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 218.20p +2.88%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 397.30p +2.40%Close Brothers Group (CBG) 904.00p +2.20%FTSE 250 - FallersAfrican Barrick Gold (ABG) 362.50p -18.36%Debenhams (DEB) 109.80p -6.23%Michael Page International (MPI) 399.30p -3.71%Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 620.50p -3.50%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 685.50p -2.77%Alent (ALNT) 319.00p -2.60%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 692.50p -2.60%Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 513.50p -2.56%Unite Group (UTG) 277.50p -2.43%Regus (RGU) 106.10p -2.39%FTSE TechMARK - RisersPromethean World (PRW) 21.50p +13.16%Parity Group (PTY) 21.00p +10.53%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 177.75p +3.34%CML Microsystems (CML) 397.50p +3.25%RM (RM.) 77.75p +1.63%Sepura (SEPU) 95.50p +1.60%Consort Medical (CSRT) 770.00p +0.52%Ricardo (RCDO) 396.00p +0.25%Triad Group (TRD) 6.75p 0.00%Antisoma (ASM) 1.91p 0.00%FTSE TechMARK - FallersOxford Biomedica (OXB) 2.40p -4.00%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,010.00p -2.79%Torotrak (TRK) 26.50p -2.30%Innovation Group (TIG) 23.00p -2.13%Filtronic (FTC) 35.50p -2.07%Optos (OPTS) 166.50p -1.77%Kofax (KFX) 290.00p -1.69%Emblaze Ltd. (BLZ) 44.75p -1.65%Xaar (XAR) 274.00p -1.62%E2V Technologies (E2V) 124.50p -0.80%AB