London pre-open: Weak start expected

22nd Jan 2010 07:38

Yesterday's late swoon in London looks set to continue Friday morning, with City traders predicting the FTSE 100 will open around 22 points lower at around 5,313.Resource stocks, at least, had some early good news for investors, with miner Xstrata and oil company Tullow giving updates on their activities. Xstrata’s copper division has upgraded a mineral resource estimate for its Horse-Ivaal-Trukai deposit at the Frieda River copper-gold project in Papua New Guinea. The mining giant, which assumed management control of the project two years ago, said the new resource estimate includes ‘significantly’ increased inventory and improved confidence levels, including a 26% increase in resource tonnage.Tullow Oil said its Kasamene-2 appraisal well, which is located in the Butiaba region of Uganda Block 2, has encountered 39 metres of net oil pay and 8 metres of net gas pay within a 132 metre gross interval. Defence and aerospace group Cobham has named National Express chairman John Devaney as chairman designate of the company. Devaney will succeed David Turner as chairman in May, by which time he will have given up his executive responsibilities at National Express.Engineer Invensys said it still expects to achieve an improvement in performance in the current year. Invensys said operating profit before exceptional items in the third quarter was ahead of the corresponding period last year despite the continuing difficult economic climate. The group was behind 2008 levels at the halfway point at the end of September.Acquisitive electronic sensors company Halma has beefed up its presence in the photonics market through the purchase of SphereOptics, a US manufacturer of precision products for use in light metrology applications. The company is initially paying $2.5m (£1.5m) for the New Hampshire based company. SphereOptics had revenues of $4.3m (£2.6m) in 2009.