LONDON (ShareCast) - The Footsie is back above 5,800 but it is still a grim day for leading equities with falls outnumbering rises by more than five to one.

HSBC is a rare bright spot, edging higher after it upped its full year profits by 10% in 2007 and its dividend for the year by 11%, despite a massive $17.2bn provision for bad debts related to its US sub-prime exposure.

Other banks fared less well, with HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester the hardest hit by continued lending crisis concerns and negative broker comment.

Barclays is also trading lower after agreeing to acquire Russian rival Expobank for about $745m in cash. The bank said it was buying Expobank from Petropavlovsk Finance as part of its strategy to expand in emerging markets.

Publisher Pearson is on the slide despite posting record figures due to strong profit growth in all its businesses, which performed at or above 2006 levels. Analysts were concerned that the outlook for the company’s education business is not as good as previously expected.

Miner and bid target Xstrata lifted net profit by 13% in 2007, just below forecasts, but remains bullish on the outlook for commodity prices.

Aviva, Britain's biggest insurer, is lower following a report in the Sunday Telegraph that it is studying the sale of half of its Indian back- office business.

Insulation board and panel supplier Kingspan has cautioned earnings growth will slow "appreciably" in the current year as the impact of the credit crunch takes its toll on the construction business.

Among the FTSE 250, Game is doing well after the computer games retailer said it expects to do better than it previously thought in 2008, after demand has held up well in the first two months.

Integrated ferrochrome producer International Ferro Metals said results are in line with expectations despite production problems but added that the industry-wide electricity supply concerns still remain.

The shares of engineering specialist Keller headed higher after it announced a share buy-back programme and said 2008 has started well as profits jumped 23% in 2007.

Taylor Nelson Sofres saw profits for the year surge 40.1% helping the market research firm to hike dividends by nearly 20%.

Management and consultancy firm WSP Group posted a 46% jump in adjusted pre-tax profits and said it is confident to deliver increased revenue and profits in the year ahead.

Natural healthcare products supplier Wm Ransom will make a loss this year as a consequence of having its manufacturing licence temporarily suspended earlier this year and weak consumer healthcare sales currently.

Investment bank Close Brothers saw operating profit slide 29% in the first half due to challenging market and trading conditions.

A favourable run of results saw Irish bookmaker Paddy Power lift profits ahead of forecasts last year, with gross wins also good in the current year so far.

Accident management group Helphire claws back some of Friday’s heavy losses. The shares slumped at the end of last week as analysts felt profits were below forecasts while increasing debt was also a concern.

UBS has cut its rating on Moneysupermarket.com to ‘neutral’ from ‘buy’, citing concerns over the near-term performance of its money division.

Energy supplier Scottish and Southern Energy is to buy street lighting business Seeboard Trading Limited from EDF Energy for £7.8m in cash.

Contract delays and revisions will hit TETRA digital radio specialist Sepura’s full year revenues by 10% the company said this morning, sparking a sharp decline in the company’s shares.

Engineer Senior posted a 91% rise in adjusted pre-tax profit and said trading in the first two months of 2008 has been ahead of expectations.

Publishing and events firm Tarsus saw profits for the year surge 70% as it benefited from acquisitions, which broadened its geographic and sector reach.

Engineer Rotork reported a 24% rise in pre-tax profits and announced a special £10m payment to shareholders.

Underwriter Hiscox posted record profits for the second year running as the absence of major natural disasters meant a "cracking year for the international catastrophe exposed business."

Recruitment group Staffline was wanted after it announced profit before tax up 30% to £4.4m and hiked its dividend 41%.

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