LONDON (ShareCast) - London's top stocks have ended the day in the red after US stocks turned slightly lower on Wall Street.

Imperial Tobacco, which recently announced a rights issue, was the day’s heaviest faller.

Vodafone also turned lower after initially rising on results that met expectations for the year to March, with underlying profits up by 10.2% to £13.2bn on revenues of £35.5bn. In the current year Vodafone predicts sales of between £39.8bn to £40.7bn, with adjusted operating profit of £11bn and £11.5bn compared with £10.1bn in the year just ended.

Peroni and Castle beer brewer SABMiller was the best performing stock after reports that InBev, the company behind Stella Artois, is eyeing US brewer Anheuser-Busch and may be looking further afield.

Elsewhere in the alcoholic drinks sector, ING has raised its recommendation on the drinks giant Diageo to ‘buy’ from ‘hold’ and its price target to 1,180p from 1,150p on valuation grounds. The broker said that increased whisky consumption from emerging markets – particularly India – will help the Johnnie Walker owner.

Miners were going well, with Lonmin and Kazakhmys the best in the sector. In the FTSE 250, Aquarius Platinum was strong, helped by rising prices for the precious metal.

India’s Vedanta was in focus after JP Morgan raised its price target on Vedanta to 3,170p from 2,737p but said high oil prices and lower zinc and lead prices have affected its near-term outlook on the company.

Car catalyst maker Johnson Mathey climbed on a “buy” recommendation from Merrill Lynch.

HSBC may see further losses in its US mortgage loan business, chief executive Michael Geoghegan said at an informal shareholders meeting. He added that sub-prime related write-downs are expected to decrease quarter-by-quarter, though he forecast it will take three years to turn around the HSBC Finance unit in the US.

Faced with the prospect of relegation from the FTSE 100, Persimmon was lower, not helped by further evidence of a subdued mortgage market announced by the British Bankers’ Association and a report on Sunday from Hometrack which predicted less than 5% of homes in the UK will change hands this year.

Fellow housebuilder Barratt Developments was even more affected by the housing data. Week-end press reports suggested British Land and Land Securities are mulling bids for Wilson Bowden Developments, the commercial property arm of Barratt. The business could fetch more than £250m, writes the Sunday Independent.

Northern Foods reported a profit from its ongoing businesses of £50.1m, up 25%, in the year to March. Pre-tax profits were £34.5m against £22.5m. "Despite some caution, we expect the underlying business to continue to make good progress in 2008/09," the statement added.

Electra Private Equity confirmed press speculation that it is in discussions that could lead to the sale of its interest in British rail freight operator Freightliner Group.

Engineering designer Aveva increased underlying profits by 70% to £ 47.9m in the year ended March from £28.1m a year earlier. Revenue rose 34% to £127.6m. "Looking ahead the board believes the outlook for the current year remains very positive for the business," it added.

Shares in architect firm SMC roared ahead as it said trading continues to be robust and it has a stronger order book than at the same stage of the year in 2007. The group said it had taken "actions to rationalise the business and to make further cost savings over and above those arising from the review in 2007 continue to progress well."

Military decoy producer Chemring has acquired Scot, a US-based manufacturer of cartridge-actuated and propellant-actuated devices. Chemring is paying $40m (£20.2m) in cash for Scot.

Stakebuilding by Laura Ashley has sabotaged Icelandic investment group Baugur's bid for menswear retailer Moss Bros. Baugur pulled out of the deal after completing due diligence because changes to the company’s shareholder base since the indicative bid was first announced made the “execution risk” unacceptable.

Shares in FoaMasters plummeted after the Asia-based manufacturer said it expects its financial performance for the full year to be below market expectations.

Stockbroker Cenkos Securities admitted that the level of IPO’s is down on previous periods.



FTSE 100 - Risers
SABMiller (SAB) 1,309.00p +6.94%
British Airways (BAY) 214.75p +4.00%
Compass Group (CPG) 373.25p +3.18%
TUI Travel (TT.) 240.50p +3.00%
London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 1,049.00p +2.94%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,831.00p +2.92%
ICAP (IAP) 604.00p +2.81%
Alliance & Leicester (AL.) 427.25p +2.64%
Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,920.00p +2.51%
Cadbury (CBRY) 704.50p +2.40%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,065.00p -3.01%
Admiral Group (ADM) 849.50p -2.69%
John Wood Group (WG.) 451.25p -2.33%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 241.25p -2.23%
BP (BP.) 616.50p -2.14%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 3,371.00p -2.09%
Hammerson (HMSO) 901.00p -2.07%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 6,178.00p -1.92%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,972.00p -1.89%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 160.50p -1.71%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Ashtead Group (AHT) 75.50p +11.03%
PayPoint (PAY) 562.50p +6.53%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 856.50p +4.45%
BlackRock World Mining Trust (BRWM) 782.00p +4.41%
TR Property Investment Sigma Shares (TRYS) 83.50p +4.05%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 266.75p +3.89%
Debenhams (DEB) 65.50p +3.56%
easyJet (EZJ) 274.50p +3.29%
Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 1,603.00p +2.76%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,819.00p +2.73%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Capital & Regional (CAL) 310.00p -6.34%
Grainger (GRI) 320.75p -5.94%
Brixton (BXTN) 262.00p -5.33%
Great Portland Estates (GPOR) 404.75p -5.21%
CSR (CSR) 328.50p -4.58%
Britvic (BVIC) 320.25p -4.33%
Dimension Data Holdings (DDT) 50.00p -4.31%
Kier Group (KIE) 1,054.00p -4.27%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 219.50p -4.25%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 210.75p -4.20%

• News Channel