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London mid-morning: Shares under pressure amid economic worries

Date: Wednesday 22 Sep 2010

London mid-morning: Shares under pressure amid economic worries

Footsie is under pressure this morning after comments from the US Federal Reserve last night stoked nervous over the recovery in the world’s biggest economy.

Interest rates were left at just above 0% and the Fed said it expects the recovery to continue, but added "the pace of economic recovery is likely to be modest in the near-term."

There was a similar theme here with minutes released this morning from the Bank of England’s latest meeting showing that some members of the rate setting committee think that the probability that more action will be needed to stimulate the economy had increased.

Last night’s Fed comments sent the dollar lower and gold to record highs, boosting the share price of gold miners African Barrick and Randgold. Industrial metal miners such as BHP Billiton and Antofagasta are also in demand.

Elsewhere, Imperial Tobacco is higher after saying it is still on track to meet forecasts for the year, though growth in tobacco revenues has slowed slightly over the last six months. The Lambert & Butler maker expects net revenues to be up around 3% in the year to 30 September compared with a 4% gain to £3.4bn for the six months to 31 March.

Moir Lockhead, the veteran chief executive of FirstGroup, is to retire next March after twenty one years in charge of the bus and train group. His replacement will be his current deputy Tim O'Toole, previously the managing director of London Underground.

Bid target Dana Petroleum has received the go-ahead from the Dutch authorities for its 50% owned Medway integrated oil and gas development. First production from Medway is expected in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The utility solutions arm of energy supplier Scottish and Southern Energy is to develop an embedded electricity network for Nissan Motor manufacturing UK.

Redhall has agreed to buy Mount Engineering for 70p per share, valuing the oil and gas valve maker at £16m. Redhall said the purchase will boost in its international presence in the oil and gas market and strengthen its specialist manufacturing capability, especially in high hazard markets.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Xstrata (XTA) 1,197.00p +2.53%
Randgold Resources (RRS) 6,460.00p +2.38%
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 600.00p +2.30%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,001.50p +2.17%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,219.00p +1.92%
Lonmin (LMI) 1,702.00p +1.79%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,198.00p +1.78%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,633.00p +1.76%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,925.00p +1.69%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,237.00p +1.59%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,393.00p -3.26%
Aviva (AV.) 403.80p -3.17%
Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,780.00p -2.68%
Resolution (RSL) 232.10p -2.52%
Invensys (ISYS) 284.00p -2.51%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,374.00p -2.41%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 558.00p -2.11%
Man Group (EMG) 220.40p -1.87%
Compass Group (CPG) 532.00p -1.85%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,270.00p -1.78%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Shanks Group (SKS) 108.90p +5.22%
ITE Group (ITE) 171.20p +3.26%
Centamin Egypt (CEY) 189.90p +2.82%
Salamander Energy (SMDR) 247.50p +2.02%
Robert Wiseman (RWD) 346.80p +1.82%
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 594.00p +1.63%
Cranswick (CWK) 835.00p +1.58%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 330.70p +1.57%
Victrex (VCT) 1,215.00p +1.25%
Spectris (SXS) 1,030.00p +1.18%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Supergroup (SGP) 1,233.00p -4.57%
JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 464.90p -3.93%
Pace (PIC) 191.10p -3.73%
Murray Income Trust (MUT) 595.50p -3.48%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 369.50p -3.32%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,147.00p -2.96%
Cookson Group (CKSN) 508.00p -2.87%
Greene King (GNK) 411.40p -2.79%
Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 133.90p -2.62%
Informa (INF) 401.60p -2.55%

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