London open: Banks lead risers, RBS down

3rd Dec 2009 08:21

Barclays and Lloyds are leading London's top stocks higher in early dealings on Thursday, though Royal Bank of Scotland is an exception.RBS has dropped on news that that the bank's board is threatening to resign en masse if Alistair Darling will veto the group's £1.5bn bonus pot.On the positive side, Barclays is the main riser. The Telegraph reports that Barclays is set to award its 22,000 investment bankers pay rises of up to 150%. Lloyds Banking is the second biggest riser, closely followed by DIY group Kingfisher.Kingfisher reported a 2.4% rise in third quarter sales thanks to a strong performance by its B&Q brand in the UK and Poland. Sales in the 13 weeks ended 31 October came to £2.69bn, up 5.6% on a reported basis and 2.4% in constant currencies. Like-for-like sales have increased by 0.8%, while retail profit jumped by 23.4% to £277m.Xstrata has approved a US$542m (£325m) investment to extend the life of its Ernest Henry Mining (EHM) copper-gold mine near Cloncurry in north-west Queensland, Australia, to at least 2024. The money will be spent on the transformation of open pit mining to a major underground mine. Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca is to licence TC-5214, the treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) developed by biopharmaceutical company Targacept. The pair will work together on the global development and commercialisation of TC-5214, a late stage product which recently completed a phase IIb clinical trial. Engineering conglomerate Halma reported slightly lower half year profits but said order intake was lightly ahead of revenue. Pre-tax profit from continuing operations was down 2% at £38.1m in the 27 weeks to 3 October from £39m after incurring £1.7m of restructuring costs. Statutory pre-tax profit was down 1% at 35.4m.Train and bus operator Go Ahead has exchanged contracts to sell its airport ground handling and cargo operations to focus on its rail and bus activities. It is selling ground handling and cargo operations at Heathrow and Manchester Airport to Middle Eastern travel group Dnata for £15m. Pub group and brewer Marston's posted a sharp fall in profits in the year to 3 October, but these were ahead of previous expectations and the company said the improving trend of the second half has continued in recent weeks.Insurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson said it is in advanced talks to buy Midas Capital's iimia Wealth Management (iWM) unit for around £7.25m.Oil company Cairn Energy is to tackle its unwieldy share price by means of a 10 for 1 sub-division of its share capital.Asia-focused oil company Salamander Energy has agreed to farm out interests in five blocks in Northeast Thailand, Lao PDR and Vietnam to Australia's Origin Energy.Tanker broker ACM Shipping posted flat profits in the six months to September 30 as the recovery in oil prices kept demand buoyant.Equipment rental group Ashtead Group saw interim profits plummet and expects trading to remain tough in the second half of its financial year.Petra Diamonds, which part owns South Africa's Cullinan mine, has raised US$120m (£72.7m) from a placing of shares at 60p each to strengthen the balance sheet and develop its mines.FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 305.55p +2.71%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 54.53p +2.69%British Airways (BAY) 207.60p +2.57%TUI Travel (TT.) 254.30p +2.38%Kingfisher (KGF) 241.60p +2.37%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 872.00p +1.99%Whitbread (WTB) 1,319.00p +1.93%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 33.22p -0.98%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,273.50p -0.66%Resolution (RSL) 83.45p -0.54%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,758.00p -0.25%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,194.00p -0.17%G4S (GFS) 255.80p -0.12%SABMiller (SAB) 1,804.00p -0.06%