LONDON (ShareCast) - A weak start on Wall Street is dragging London back from earlier highs, but the leading index is still showing decent gains as bid speculation sweeps the banking sector.

HBOS surged on talk of a bid interest from Spanish rival BBVA. Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB rose in sympathy.

Talk of a bail-out for US mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has given a boost to other financials, including Schroders and Friends Provident.

Fuel thirsty British Airways is flying high on weak oil prices, joined by cruise operator Carnival. Crude fell below $126 a barrel at one stage today. Tullow Oil and BP are down, but Shell is bucking the trend.

Miners are limiting the advance, with Ferrexpo, Lonmin, International Power and Anglo American down on falling metal prices.

Vodafone has decided to buy-back £1bn of shares after the kicking they got yesterday on its less than inspiring update.

Pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline said sales in the second quarter were up 4% at £5.8bn. The group also outlined three new strategic priorities today and announced the slowing of its share buyback programme.

Tate & Lyle reported a satisfactory start to the financial year with profit before tax for the continuing operations in the first quarter broadly in line with last year.

Car parts and bike retailer Halfords' first-quarter profit has run ahead its expectations, boosted by a strong performance from its car maintenance business. Like-for-like sales rose 0.2% in the 13 weeks to 27 June, adjusted for the timing of Easter.

Centrica has increased its shareholding in Belgian generation and supply company SPE to a controlling 51% through the exercise its pre-emption right over the 25.5% interest in SPE currently held by GDF International. The cost of the stake is €515m cash plus a deferred €105m.

Publisher Daily Mail reports revenue for the third quarter rose by 5% on last year with continued growth from the business to business divisions but weakening advertising conditions in the newspaper divisions.

BHP's fourth-quarter copper output rose 14% versus the comparable year ago period, while iron ore rose 15%, though coal used in steel making dropped 18%, BHP said. BHP warned that Escondida's total output would drop 10-15% in the 2009 financial year due to lower ore grades.

Buy-to-let mortgage lender Paragon could get a bid from TPG Capital, the US private equity group, that pulled out of a £179m capital injection into Bradford & Bingley, says the FT.

Joinery and kitchen group Galiform saw a solid underlying performance in the first six months of 2008, but sales slowed towards the end of the half and that trend has continued, knocking the shares lower.

Bike and car spares chain Halfords has defied the consumer downturn with both sales and profits ahead of expectations in the first quarter.

Recycling products and services group Straight said interim profits will be lower than expected because of losses at its retail division.

Short breaks holiday specialist Holidaybreak has seen revenue growth across all of its divisions, although the hotel division has recently experienced a slow-down in the UK.

Specialist brick maker Michelmersh said despite the uncertainties in the UK construction sector, turnover in the first six months is 6.6% higher than in the same period in 2007.

• News Channel