LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s leading shares are putting on stellar gains as M&A rumours add to the earlier lift provided by travel stocks and financials.

Building materials group Wolseley surged ahead amongst the risers on market talk that it might sell its US operations.

Travel stocks are also up as crude prices slide below $120 a barrel. TUI Travel and Thomas Cook have gained, while airliner British Airways and the cruise operator Carnival also benefit. On the opposite end, oil stocks such as Tullow and BG, suffered.

Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered posted record half-year profits as it shrugged off the turmoil surrounding the financial markets. Pre-tax profit increased 31% to $2,586m as the group benefited from its strategy of focusing on Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Banks HBOS, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are also among the top performers. Barclays agreed to sell Barclays Life Assurance Company Limited to Swiss Reinsurance Company for approximately £753m in cash.

Meanwhile, government-owned mortgage lender Northern Rock reported a worse-than-expected £585m loss in the first half after a rise in the number of customers falling behind with repayments.

Insurer Legal and General advances after reporting a 6% rise in first half operating profit, at the higher end of forecasts, as annuity sales grew. Despite a weaker investment market half year operating profit on a European embedded value (EEV) basis rose to £626m compared with £589m in the first half of 2007. Standard Life is up in sympathy.

Mining stocks fall back in line with lower metals prices. Kazakhstan’s ENRC and Ukraine’s Ferrexpo post substantial losses.

UK power generator Drax saw profits for the half year slide due to higher coal and carbon costs. The group said it anticipate its full year EBITDA will be modestly higher than £400m, but still lower than 2007 EBITDA of £50m, reflecting a decrease in margins captured for power sales.

In the FTSE 250, Shares in Michael Page jumped after the recruitment firm admitted it had received an approach from recruitment firm Adecco.

JP Morgan has lowered its rating on the real estate giant Hammerson to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’ on valuation grounds.

JP Morgan has lifted its price target on train and bus operator National Express to 1,164p from 1,153p and kept its ‘overweight’ rating on the stock.

Merrill Lynch has raised its rating on the drug group AstraZeneca to ‘neutral’ from ‘underperform’ and raised its target price on the stock to 2,600p from 1,900p.

Carpetright said group sales decreased 9.2% in the first 13 weeks of its financial year and warned the difficult conditions are likely to persist for the year. “The trading environment in the UK has become more difficult and we can see this continuing for the rest of our financial year,” said the carpet retailer.

Cookson saw first-half profit rise 45% thanks to its ceramic business and said it expected a strong improvement in its full-year performance.

Volatility in the financial markets helped the inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon lift revenue and profits, though the company added that growth is expected to slow over the second half of the year.

Zotefoams reported a 50% jump in first half pre-tax profits and said it remains confident of its future prospects.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Wolseley (WOS) 400.50p +13.38%
Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 220.50p +10.25%
HBOS (HBOS) 330.00p +10.09%
Legal & General Group (LGEN) 106.00p +9.73%
TUI Travel (TT.) 213.25p +9.14%
Standard Life (SL.) 242.25p +8.51%
Lloyds TSB Group (LLOY) 316.25p +7.84%
Barclays (BARC) 365.75p +7.81%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 345.00p +7.73%
Carphone Warehouse Group (CPW) 204.75p +7.71%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Man Group (EMG) 571.00p -6.93%
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 950.00p -4.81%
Drax Group (DRX) 695.00p -3.87%
BG Group (BG.) 1,046.00p -3.68%
John Wood Group (WG.) 398.50p -3.34%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 742.00p -3.32%
Ferrexpo (FXPO) 261.00p -2.79%
Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 613.00p -2.70%
British Energy Group (BGY) 700.00p -2.51%
Amec (AMEC) 818.00p -2.44%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Michael Page International (MPI) 356.00p +34.21%
Johnston Press (JPR) 49.25p +23.12%
Sports Direct International (SPD) 77.50p +16.54%
JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 265.75p +13.93%
Travis Perkins (TPK) 691.00p +13.93%
easyJet (EZJ) 363.75p +13.67%
Trinity Mirror (TNI) 130.50p +13.48%
Hays (HAS) 91.75p +12.92%
Persimmon (PSN) 349.75p +12.28%
Signet Group (SIG) 55.50p +12.12%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Aveva Group (AVV) 1,330.00p -9.65%
Premier Oil (PMO) 1,147.00p -7.65%
Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,224.00p -7.27%
Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 1,040.00p -6.56%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 259.50p -5.98%
Imperial Energy Corporation (IEC) 1,099.00p -5.26%
Hardy Oil & Gas (HDY) 507.50p -5.14%
Hunting (HTG) 783.50p -4.28%
Venture Production (VPC) 701.00p -4.10%
Aquarius Platinum (AQP) 383.75p -4.06%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Inion (IIN) 9.00p +33.33%
AEA Technology (AAT) 46.00p +9.52%
Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 119.25p +6.47%
Sinclair Pharma (SPH) 45.50p +5.81%
Elan Corporation (ELA) € 7.71 +4.83%
Trafficmaster (TFC) 29.00p +4.50%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 36.50p +3.55%
Corin Group (CRG) 149.75p +3.45%
RM Group (RM.) 176.75p +3.21%
Alphameric (ALM) 17.75p +2.90%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Plasmon (PLM) 2.75p -12.14%
Skyepharma (SKP) 2.81p -10.51%
Ark Therapeutics (AKT) 64.00p -5.88%
Sepura (SEPU) 73.50p -4.23%
Indigo Vision (IND) 567.50p -2.58%
Biocompatibles International (BII) 171.75p -1.86%
Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 279.00p -1.85%
SDL International (SDL) 340.00p -1.73%
Axis-Shield (ASD) 292.00p -1.68%
Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 8.40p -1.18%

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