LONDON (ShareCast) - London’s blue chips have opened lower as higher oil prices are weighing on airline and travel stocks in early dealings.

Thomas Cook, TUI Travel, British Airways and Carnival are among the main fallers.

However, strong oil and metal prices are having the opposite effect on commodity stocks with Tullow Oil, Anglo American, Ferrexpo, Kazakhmys, Cairn Energy, Xstrata, BP, Amec and Shell leading the top performers.

ENRC is the main riser after the ferrochrome producer posted a strong set of half-year figures and said it expected higher commodity prices to hold despite the macroeconomic uncertainties.

Housebuilder Persimmon saw pre-tax profit plunge 87% in the first six months of 2008 from £281.1m to £36.9m as buyers struggled to get a mortgage.

Insulation and roofing supplier SIG posted a slight drop in half year profits and warned that trading in some of its markets may become even more challenging.

Bermuda focused Lloyds insurer Amlin reported a sharp decline in half year profit after the effects of the credit crisis weighed on investment returns.

Old Mutual is to buy the 49% stake that Fortis Bank holds in ABN Amro TEDA Fund Management, a Chinese asset management joint venture, for about €165m in cash.

Engineer Invensys has paid $52m in cash for privately owned SAT Corporation, a Houston-based mobile solutions company.

Latin America-focused Hochschild Mining reported a 86% jump in core earnings in the first half and said it is on track to achieve its 2008 production target.

Cinema chain Cineworld lifted box office revenues by 1% in the first half, while total revenues improved by 0.9%, thanks to the success of blockbusters such as “I Am Legend” and “Indiana Jones”. The group said it is confident that the line up of films in the second half will drive admissions.

Material technology firm Dyson said overall pre-tax profit and debt levels for the year-to-date are satisfactory although higher energy costs and lower sales have hit its Thermal Technologies and Performance Materials divisions.

Silicon wafers supplier PV Crystalox Solar more than doubled profits for the half year due to an increase in contracted silicon deliveries and firmer wafer pricing.

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