London midday: Oil and mining stocks boost Footsie

9th Apr 2010 12:14

Resource stocks are underpinning strength in the Footsie today.Miners lead the way, with silver miner Fresnillo top of the tree. Xstrata is going well following reports in the Australian press that it is contemplating a bid for MacArthur Coal, the Australian miner that is, itself, attempting to take over smaller Australian rival Gloucester Coal. Mining giant Rio Tinto is also up after it said it is in talks with several of its iron ore customers about moving to quarterly pricing of iron ore contracts. The move comes after rivals BHP Billiton and Vale switched to shorter term pricing arrangements.Elsewhere in resources, in the oil sector, Premier Oil gets a lift from RBS, which has upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'hold'. Recruitment firm Michael Page said gross first quarter profit is up 2.9% on the same period last year and 8% higher on the last quarter of 2009. "The improvement in our performance has been driven largely by greater permanent recruitment activity, as confidence levels have increased leading to a higher rate of job churn, and a stronger than expected performance in the UK," said Michael Page chief executive Steve Ingham.D1 Oils said it continues to be 'actively engaged' in a series of discussions with third parties regarding the provision of material levels of equity finance which may include the possibility of an offer being made for the biofuels group. However, the group cautioned that there can be no certainty that an offer will be made for the company or any equity financing will result.Construction group Galliford Try has won a contract worth up to £500m with Thames Water to upgrade water and waste water treatment facilities in the London region.Intellectual property group RWS Holdings is on track to meet market expectations for the full year but said its technical translations teams, especially in Germany, have experienced severe trading conditions. US based bio-refining company GTL said trading in the second half "substantially exceeded" first half, while full year figures should be "significantly" ahead of market expectations. Recycling bin maker Straight has been chosen as a supplier of plastic wheeled bins to a consortium of local authorities in a contract that could generate revenues of more than £4m.The share price of healthcare staff supplier Healthcare Locums is in rude health after the company said it had received an approach that could lead to an offer.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 880.00p +3.04%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,062.00p +2.81%Xstrata (XTA) 1,296.00p +2.61%Compass Group (CPG) 534.50p +2.00%Lonmin (LMI) 2,106.00p +1.99%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,316.00p +1.94%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,065.00p +1.91%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,586.00p +1.86%Anglo American (AAL) 2,957.50p +1.75%International Power (IPR) 328.40p +1.70%FTSE 100 - FallersSchroders NV (SDRC) 1,160.00p -0.68%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 616.00p -0.56%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 90.70p -0.55%Man Group (EMG) 262.00p -0.46%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,923.50p -0.36%Vodafone Group (VOD) 148.00p -0.30%Invensys (ISYS) 339.80p -0.26%Wolseley (WOS) 1,567.00p -0.25%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,861.00p -0.21%Schroders (SDR) 1,437.00p -0.14%FTSE 250 - RisersAquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 453.00p +4.81%Premier Oil (PMO) 1,326.00p +3.19%Croda International (CRDA) 970.50p +3.03%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 528.00p +3.02%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 60.85p +2.96%Yell Group (YELL) 45.64p +2.63%GKN (GKN) 141.60p +2.61%Petropavlovsk (POG) 1,338.00p +2.53%Michael Page International (MPI) 433.70p +2.41%Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 311.80p +2.40%FTSE 250 - FallersNorthern Foods (NFDS) 60.25p -3.60%Ecofin Water & Power Opportunities (ECWO) 142.00p -3.27%Melrose Resources (MRS) 296.70p -2.79%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 292.80p -2.79%CSR (CSR) 451.20p -2.36%Trinity Mirror (TNI) 154.60p -2.28%Eaga (EAGA) 142.20p -1.93%Robert Wiseman (RWD) 517.00p -1.90%BSS Group (BTSM) 283.60p -1.87%Provident Financial (PFG) 861.00p -1.82%