London open: M&B leads the rise after offer rejection

13th Sep 2011 08:32

Reports that China is planning to provide support to the Eurozone helped UK stocks higher on Tuesday morning, following a late recovery on Wall Street last night.Wall Street's rally was prompted by reports that Italy's government is negotiating with the Chinese government in the hope that Beijing will help rescue it from financial crisis by making "significant" purchases of Italian bonds and investments in strategic companies. The big mover in the morning was FTSE 250 restaurant and pubs group Mitchells & Butlers, which jumped 9% after rejecting a takeover offer from its largest shareholder, the billionaire Joe Lewis.Hedge fund manager Man Group was the best performer on the FTSE 100, rising over 5%. The banks were also among the risers in early trading, with Standard Chartered, Barclays and Lloyds making gains.However, Cairn Energy dropped over 8% after reporting disappointing results from its offshore drilling campaign offshore Greenland, with one well coming up dry and another showing only minor hydrocarbons.Spread-betting firm IG Group edged higher after revealing that revenues reached £100m in the first quarter, after saying in August that it expected sales to pass the £94m mark.Train and coach operator National Express has acquired the fifth largest provider of student transportation services in the US for $200m. Shares rose over 1.5%.Commercial vehicle hire company Northgate was in demand as it said despite tough economic conditions hitting its UK and Spanish markets, trading between May and September has been in line with the company expectations.Despite seeing record profits in the year ended June, asset manager Ashmore Group fell lower as its reported that operating profit margins eased from 73% to 72%.BCFTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 227.80p +5.37%Inmarsat (ISAT) 485.00p +3.26%Carnival (CCL) 1,959.00p +1.77%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,347.00p +1.70%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 319.80p +1.69%Kingfisher (KGF) 234.20p +0.90%G4S (GFS) 266.20p +0.83%Barclays (BARC) 144.95p +0.66%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 31.20p +0.52%Wolseley (WOS) 1,560.00p +0.45%FTSE 100 - FallersCairn Energy (CNE) 292.60p -8.16%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,975.00p -8.14%3i Group (III) 191.10p -3.24%Essar Energy (ESSR) 243.00p -3.19%Schroders (SDR) 1,340.00p -3.18%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 277.00p -3.05%Aviva (AV.) 293.60p -3.01%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 238.80p -2.97%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,254.00p -2.72%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,076.00p -2.71%FTSE 250 - RisersMitchells & Butlers (MAB) 240.20p +9.13%Charter International (CHTR) 860.00p +6.97%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 221.40p +5.43%Afren (AFR) 109.00p +5.11%Keller Group (KLR) 367.80p +5.09%Melrose (MRO) 291.90p +4.25%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 33.48p +2.89%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 68.00p +2.64%Shanks Group (SKS) 114.00p +2.61%Computacenter (CCC) 400.00p +2.56%FTSE 250 - FallersPremier Foods (PFD) 11.35p -6.89%St James's Place (STJ) 315.70p -6.32%International Personal Finance (IPF) 223.10p -5.02%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 390.10p -4.92%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 104.10p -4.76%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 549.50p -4.60%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 293.00p -4.19%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 163.50p -4.16%Kofax (KFX) 297.00p -3.98%Amlin (AML) 286.10p -3.80%