London open: Resource stocks wanted

15th Apr 2011 08:37

The Footsie is sidling back up towards the 6,000 level, with resource stocks leading the way after China's economy grew faster than expected in the first quarter.ENRC, Antofagasta and Lonmin are the picks of the mining sector while among oils Cairn and Tullow are the stocks to have.Betting shops and casinos operator Ladbrokes says the potential marriage with online gaming firm 888 is off. The two parties had been engaged in preliminary merger discussions but these has been terminated. The announcement accompanied a first quarter trading update in which business showed a marked pick up towards the end of the reporting period. For the first quarter overall, group net revenue - excluding high rollers - was 2.3% higher than a year earlier, with the period from 16 February showing a 4.2% year on year increase. This was despite a poor Cheltenham festival where the group's net revenue was down £10.7m on the 2010 festival. The bookmaker is to get a new chief financial officer, having lured Ian Bull over from brewing and pubs group Greene King. Bull will hang around until the announcement of Greene King's preliminary results on the last day of June, whereupon he will join Ladbrokes as chief financial officer (CFO). Continuing the merry-go-round, Matthew Fearn, currently CFO of foods outfit Brakes Group, will be joining Greene King as group finance director and a member of the board on 1st September 2011.Paper and packaging firm Mondi has signed a new €750m five-year revolving multi-currency credit facility to refinance its existing €1.55bn credit facility that was due to mature in June 2012.Outsourcing firm The Capita Group has acquired Right Document Solutions Holdings for a consideration of £30m on a cash-free, debt free basis, plus a deferred consideration of up to £10m. RDS provides document consultancy and managed print services through long term contracts with a range of public and private sector clients. Jordan-based Hikma Pharmaceuticals has entered into a strategic partnership with the Indian pharmaceutical company Unimark Remedies. Hikma is paying $33.3m to take a minority stake in privately held Unimark, one of India's leading manufacturers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and API intermediates.Specialist currency manager Record said it expects pre-tax profits for the financial year ended 31 March 2011 to be broadly in line with market expectations.Distribution group Wincanton warned that revenue at its German Intermodal business fell in the fourth quarter after the Rhine was closed to traffic for over four weeks. Otherwise its overall performance continues to be broadly in line with management expectations, the group said in Friday's trading update.FTSE 100 - RisersMan Group (EMG) 244.00p +1.50%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,161.00p +1.48%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 920.00p +1.21%Land Securities Group (LAND) 746.00p +1.02%British Land Co (BLND) 557.50p +1.00%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,024.00p +0.95%Next (NXT) 2,181.00p +0.93%Cairn Energy (CNE) 442.50p +0.91%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,568.00p +0.84%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,558.00p +0.84%FTSE 100 - FallersWhitbread (WTB) 1,668.00p -1.01%Sage Group (SGE) 272.40p -0.95%Prudential (PRU) 733.50p -0.74%Pearson (PSON) 1,098.00p -0.72%Aviva (AV.) 433.50p -0.62%Barclays (BARC) 300.00p -0.60%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 43.29p -0.55%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 306.40p -0.52%TUI Travel (TT.) 228.80p -0.52%Old Mutual (OML) 136.70p -0.36%FTSE 250 - RisersDixons Retail (DXNS) 14.07p +6.75%Ladbrokes (LAD) 141.00p +4.52%Derwent London (DLN) 1,727.00p +3.41%Redrow (RDW) 123.00p +2.93%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 279.30p +2.65%RPS Group (RPS) 207.90p +2.41%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 870.00p +2.29%FTSE 250 - FallersMicro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 281.20p -11.10%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 298.10p -4.67%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 247.90p -1.63%JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 449.10p -1.56%JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 425.40p -1.53%FTSE TechMARK - RisersCeva Inc. (CVA) 1,650.00p +3.12%Axis-Shield (ASD) 329.75p +2.97%FTSE TechMARK - FallersMicrogen (MCGN) 132.00p -2.94%Alterian (ALN) 102.00p -2.39%---jh