LONDON (ShareCast) - London has ignored Wall Street’s lead and better than expected UK retail sales and headed lower, despite the strength of commodity plays.

Higher oil and metal prices boost Tullow Oil, Anglo American, Kazakhmys, Petrofac, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Amec Vedanta and Wood Group.

Financials are under the cosh again, however, after highly-geared Australian fund management group Babcock & Brown reported a 30% slide in half-year post-tax profits and said it would part company with its chairman and founder, James Babcock, as well as its chief executive officer Phil Green. Schroders takes the biggest battering in the UK but high street banks such as Lloyds TSB, HBOS, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC also fall.

ENRC shines 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. International Ferro Metals bounces higher in sympathy.

Supermarket chain Tesco is weaker after concluding sales and leaseback deals on £605m of property assets, comprising 13 Tesco stores and a distribution centre.

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. The figures were better than feared and prompted a rally by the likes of Barratt Developments, Taylor Wimpey and Berkeley Group.

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.

Pharmaceutical company ProStrakan dips after reporting an operating loss, before one-off impairment charges of £2.2m, of £7.6m, versus a 2007 £8.7m loss.

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