LONDON (ShareCast) - The ongoing surge in crude prices sent oil majors sharply higher Wednesday, but had fuel hungry transport firms in the red, while weak banks also helped keep a lid on blue chip gains.

An unexpected drop in US weekly inventories pushed oil prices above $132 a barrel, giving Cairn, BG, Shell, BP and Tullow a big lift. But rising fuel costs punished cruises giant Carnival and UK carrier British Airways.

Vedanta was better on rising metals prices and after UBS raised its price target on the India-focused miner to 3,100p from 2,600p. It cited higher iron ore production at Sesa Goa, the Goanese mining firm in which it has an interest. BHP and Anglo American also advanced.

But mortgage groups turned down again after the Council of Mortgage Lenders predicted UK house prices will fall around 7% this year and property transactions in England and Wales by some 35%. Bradford & Bingley and HBOS fell back after early gains.

Imperial Tobacco is ex-rights. Worries about consumer spending and the dwindling possibility of another rate cut soon have pulled the rug from under consumer stocks. Kingfisher and Home Retail have taken the brunt of the selling.

Minutes from the Bank of England’s policy meeting held earlier this month showed inflation concerns prompted rate setters to vote 8-1 against cutting borrowing costs from 5%.

Elsewhere, broker JP Morgan remains worried about Marks and Spencer’s outlook, despite lifting its target price on the food and range retailer to 370p from 350p.

Credit checker Experian matched forecasts with a 15% rise in full-year operating profit, but added organic revenue may be flat to slightly down in the first quarter due to a strong comparable period.

Building materials group Wolseley is to take a £50m hit for more cost cutting and added its markets show little sign of recovery with the UK now following the US and the rest of Europe lower. For the nine months ended 30 April 2008, revenue was up 2%, trading profit was 23% lower, and the outlook remains" challenging".

Housebuilders are lower in sympathy, led by Taylor Wimpey, which has a big US division, and Bellway.

Supermarket group Tesco is to buy out West Coast Capital's stake in garden centre chain Dobbies for £12 per share.

Buy-to-let mortgage group Paragon's first half profits fell from £43.3m to £26.4m, with loans advanced over the period 53.4% lower at £987m, compared with £2,118m for the first half of 2007.

Yell is still under the cosh after yesterday's grim figures. Reports today suggested it needs a rights issue to restore its finances.

Property group Great Portland Estates saw NAV fall 2% adding demand in its core London market is slowing back towards its long-term average. Net assets per share fell to 582p in the year ended March.

Data capture systems specialist Belgravium sank to its lowest in seven years as the firm admitted that a lack of new contracts will result in a first half “substantially” below expectations.

FTSE 100 - Risers
BG Group (BG.) 1,394.00p +5.45%
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,212.00p +4.73%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,242.00p +4.72%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 3,681.00p +4.60%
John Wood Group (WG.) 474.25p +4.46%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 969.00p +3.80%
BP (BP.) 649.75p +3.46%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,712.00p +2.84%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,066.00p +2.13%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Home Retail Group (HOME) 232.75p -6.53%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 241.50p -4.92%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 415.25p -4.43%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 340.00p -4.36%
HBOS (HBOS) 445.50p -4.25%
Carnival (CCL) 1,853.00p -4.24%
Carphone Warehouse Group (CPW) 238.25p -3.93%
Old Mutual (OML) 113.40p -3.74%
Aviva (AV.) 604.50p -3.67%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Drax Group (DRX) 724.00p +7.34%
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,850.00p +6.44%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 1,440.00p +5.65%
Venture Production (VPC) 935.50p +4.06%
Soco International (SIA) 2,069.00p +3.45%
UK Coal (UKC) 563.00p +3.11%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 541.00p +3.05%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 868.00p +2.78%
Aberforth Smaller Companies Tst (ASL) 599.00p +2.48%
IG Group Holdings (IGG) 395.50p +2.46%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Yell Group (YELL) 130.75p -15.10%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 104.75p -13.79%
Bellway (BWY) 645.50p -6.38%
Bradford & Bingley (BB.) 104.25p -5.87%
JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 279.25p -5.34%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 230.75p -5.24%
Signet Group (SIG) 64.00p -5.19%
Cattles (CTT) 187.25p -5.07%
easyJet (EZJ) 262.50p -4.89%
Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 408.25p -4.61%

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