LONDON (ShareCast) - A sell-off in the mining sector failed to undo Footsie’s strong gains from this morning.

ENRC led the mining sector lower after Kazakhmys lifted its stake in its Kazakh peer but ruled out a bid for the company. Kazakhmys also finished among the losers having advanced in early deals. It was joined by BHP Billiton, Xstrata and Antofagasta. Copper and platinum prices fell back.

Building supplies group Wolseley, which has strong exposure to the US, led Footsie higher, helped by the stronger dollar and continued speculation that it may sell its US operations.

ITV posted strong gains after appointing RSA Insurance Group chief executive Andy Haste as a non-executive director.

Housebuilders were very strong on a combination of a Goldman Sachs upgrade and US private equity group Polaris increasing its stake in Barratt to over 6%. Taylor Wimpey, Bovis and Bellway all did well after Goldman Sachs raised target prices across the UK sector.

Water group United Utilities has proposed an average annual real price increase of 2.7% across the five-year period 2010-2015 to pay for a a total capital investment programme of £4bn.

The clothes retail market is likely to remain difficult through 2009, HSBC said as it lowered its rating on Marks and Spencer to ‘neutral’ from ‘overweight’. M&S is still one of the day’s best performers though.

RBS has raised its rating on F&C Asset Management to ‘hold’ from ‘reduce’ but cut its target price to 105p from 181p following a poor performance from the company recently.

JP Morgan has raised its target price on Cobham to 245p from 230p and kept its rating at ‘overweight’ following strong first half results from the defence and aerospace firm.

Care home operator Southern Cross's underlying earnings for the 40 week period to 6 July 2008 increased by 24% to £55.2m compared with the same period last year. For the 14 week period to 6 July 2008 they increased by 8% to £24.4m (2007: £22.7m). Southern Cross added it is in discussions with several potential purchasers of its freehold property assets being divested and the board is encouraged by the progress made to date.

Property group Mapeley posted another big fall in asset value in the first half of the year, with NAV down from £17.32 in March to £16.17 at the end of June. Losses before tax for the half year were £53.8m (30 June 2007: profit before tax of £30.2m). The interim dividend is halved.

Market research firm YouGov's revenues continued to grow strongly in the second half of its trading year but one-off costs will hinder profits. "In the second half we have continued to see strong revenue growth and we expect to achieve further improvement in 2009. However, profits for 2008 will be affected by higher than expected recent investment and one off exceptional items," chief executive Nadhim Zahawi said.

Online marketing group Interactive Prospect Targeting has warned a strategic review has revealed its UK operations are performing significantly below management's budgets. As part of the review the board is exploring all options for its UK business, which include the possible sale of some of its divisions. The company is also currently in discussions with its bank regarding its funding requirements.

• News Channel