London open: Barclays boosts FTSE 100 but miners suffer

2nd Aug 2011 08:28

The top share index has edged higher amid a mixed reception for today's stream of company results.Investors are also digesting news that the US House of Representatives has voted through a bill to raise the debt ceiling in the first stage of a two-step process designed to avoid the country defaulting on its debt. Barclays is in demand today even though it saw income and profits fall in the half year to 30 June after the "lacklustre" economic environment hurt income generation in many of the bank's major markets. Pre-tax profits for the period fell to £2.64m from £3.94m over the same period the previous year on total income that slipped to £15.24m from £15.73m. Fellow banks HSBC, which reported yesterday, Lloyds, due to update on Thursday, RBS (Friday) and Standard Chartered are also in demand.Miners are under the cosh though, notably Xstrata, whose profits soared in the half year to 30 June as continuing growth in emerging Asian economies and the recovery in the West boosted commodity prices. Operating EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) rose to $5.82bn from $4.49bn over the same period the previous year on revenues that rose to $16.77bn from $13.6bn.Soaring precious metals prices boosted profits at Mexican silver and gold miner Fresnillo in the six months to 30 June. Total revenue rose to $1.056bn (£644.5m) from $605.7m the previous year, while earnings before interest, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose to $757m from $394.3m. But it too is in the red.Today's main miner in the spotlight though is Centamin Egypt, whose second quarter gold production was hurt by supply interruptions. It has cut its full-year output estimate to 200,000 to 210,000 ounces from a previous prediction of 250,000 to 290,000 ounces.FTSE 100 - RisersHSBC Holdings (HSBA) 616.00p +1.40%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,572.00p +1.35%National Grid (NG.) 598.00p +1.27%BT Group (BT.A) 201.70p +0.85%Barclays (BARC) 218.40p +0.65%British Land Co (BLND) 585.00p +0.52%G4S (GFS) 269.50p +0.41%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,341.00p +0.30%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,996.00p +0.30%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,420.00p +0.28%FTSE 100 - FallersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 536.50p -7.50%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,021.00p -3.72%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,280.00p -2.51%Xstrata (XTA) 1,250.00p -2.42%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 739.50p -2.31%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,349.00p -2.25%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 40.39p -1.94%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,187.00p -1.90%IMI (IMI) 1,024.00p -1.73%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,210.00p -1.67%FTSE 250 - RisersRotork (ROR) 1,681.00p +7.21%Northumbrian Water Group (NWG) 468.20p +4.18%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 115.30p +3.04%Devro (DVO) 260.00p +2.77%Rank Group (RNK) 143.60p +2.57%Premier Foods (PFD) 17.55p +2.09%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 139.90p +2.04%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 952.00p +1.44%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 227.20p +1.25%Genus (GNS) 982.50p +0.92%FTSE 250 - FallersCentamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 111.70p -18.94%Cookson Group (CKSN) 606.50p -4.03%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 53.10p -3.45%SIG (SHI) 115.80p -3.42%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 39.65p -3.10%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,685.00p -2.99%Ashtead Group (AHT) 148.00p -2.76%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 442.00p -2.64%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,767.00p -2.43%Kofax (KFX) 325.10p -2.37%