LONDON (ShareCast) - Considering Wall Street’s sharply lower opening on fears of more massive write-downs as the banking results season gets underway Stateside, London did well to limit losses today, helped by a buoyant performance by housebuilders.

Persimmon, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Developments were all sharply higher after rival Bovis said it anticipates pre-tax profits for the 2007 financial year to be broadly in line with the current average of analysts' forecasts, despite a fall in legal completions.

As is often the case, properties moved up in synchronisation with housebuilders, with British Land the pick of the bunch.

Mining stocks were also wanted today, with Xstrata benefiting from enduring bid speculation.

Defensive stocks were out of fashion after a good run, with utilities, power companies and tobacco stocks all falling victim to profit taking.

Talk of a possible profit warning at Cadbury Schweppes and demand worries at Diageo had the pair lower. SABMiller was also weak, as was Unilever after Morgan Stanley cut its recommendation to "underweight" from "equal-weight".

Aero-engine giant Rolls-Royce hit turbulence after outlining plans to cut its workforce by 2,300, with managerial, professional and clerical staff feeling the brunt of the cull.

Meanwhile, JP Morgan downgraded its rating and price target on Sage, saying the business software company will face increased competition.

Beleaguered mortgage lender Northern Rock has agreed to sell its portfolio of Lifetime home equity release mortgages to US investment bank JP Morgan.

Repeated buying by chairman Tim Martin finally had a positive effect on JD Wetherspoon’s shares. Martin has bought 937,127 shares in three separate rounds this week at a cost of £2.95m.

Premier Foods, which counts Hovis, Oxo and Mr. Kipling among its brands, slid on reports that Citigroup has placed 16m of the company’s shares at 167p per share following yesterday’s mixed trading update. Press comment also undermined the stock, with The Independent saying the shares should be avoided while The Times rates the shares no better than a “hold”, despite the 7% yield.

Ready meals group Northern Foods also retreated after announcing it has bought a chilled soup manufacturing facility in Grimsby from Baxter’s Food Group to relieve constraints on its production capacity.

Elsewhere, online estate agent Rightmove forecasts revenue for the full year will be in the region of £56.7m, up by around 69% on 2006. Profit before tax on an adjusted basis is expected to be towards the upper end of analysts' estimates of £29.3 to £32.2m (2006: £17.7m).

Market researcher Taylor Nelson reports a good performance across the group in 2007, with underlying revenue growth for the group overall expected to be over 5%. Adjusted operating margin improvement is expected to be towards top end of 25-50 basis points guidance range, it added.

Mail order specialist Findel has achieved record sales up 23% and said all divisions have contributed to the increase. The home shopping division has continued to make excellent progress, the group said, with sales in the first 39 weeks ended 28 December 32% ahead of the same period last year.

Mortgage lender Paragon slumped on the grim news it is to launch a 25 for 1 rights issue, fully underwritten by UBS, to raise £287m before expenses.

Shipbuilder VT Group said Friday that talks concerning its proposed tie-up with defence giant BAE Systems are at a “very advanced” stage amid speculation the deal may fall through.

Goldplat, the African gold mining company, said its gold recovery plant in Ghana is now in full production, which should significantly reduce costs henceforth.

Life science company PuriCore gained after it announced that it has won a $11m food safety order with one of the largest food retailers in the US.




FTSE 100 - Risers
Persimmon (PSN) 691.50p +7.21%
British Airways (BAY) 284.50p +6.16%
Xstrata (XTA) 3,448.00p +5.90%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 166.30p +5.86%
Kingfisher (KGF) 126.60p +5.85%
Next (NXT) 1,368.00p +5.72%
Lonmin (LMI) 3,600.00p +5.48%
Rexam (REX) 403.25p +5.15%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 747.00p +4.99%
Wolseley (WOS) 699.00p +4.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
International Power (IPR) 434.50p -5.08%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,729.00p -4.95%
British Energy Group (BGY) 557.00p -4.30%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,613.00p -3.93%
Pearson (PSON) 647.00p -3.72%
SABMiller (SAB) 1,349.00p -3.51%
Reckitt Benckiser (RB.) 2,657.00p -3.38%
National Grid (NG.) 836.00p -3.13%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,985.00p -3.12%
Cadbury Schweppes (CBRY) 587.50p -2.97%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Hochschild Mining (HOC) 413.00p +13.85%
Bellway (BWY) 728.50p +12.25%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 545.00p +11.22%
Debenhams (DEB) 67.75p +9.27%
Shanks Group (SKS) 241.00p +6.87%
Berkeley Group Holdings Units (BKG) 943.00p +6.73%
Signet Group (SIG) 59.50p +6.73%
Kesa Electricals (KESA) 194.50p +6.14%
JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 314.75p +6.07%
International Ferro Metals (IFL) 106.25p +5.99%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Premier Foods (PFD) 133.00p -18.65%
SSL International (SSL) 516.00p -6.94%
IMI (IMI) 334.50p -6.11%
Northern Foods (NFDS) 81.00p -5.81%
Laird Group (LARD) 478.00p -5.06%
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,317.00p -4.63%
Johnston Press (JPR) 219.75p -4.56%
Chemring Group (CHG) 1,933.00p -4.07%
QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 198.75p -3.75%
eaga (EAGA) 150.50p -3.68%

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