LONDON (ShareCast) - Friday's euphoria has given way to a more sober assessment of prospects in the wake of the huge bail-out of US mortgage lenders announced over the weekend.

Banks are lower on reflections of the implications, though Bradford & Bingley is higher on weekend reports that UK authorities are trying to broker a takeover of the buy-to-let mortgage group.HBOS, HSBC and Lloyds are lower.

Resources stocks are higher led by Tullow.International Ferro Metals is up after it returned to a full year profit as it hiked production and said it was considering a share buyback.

Yellow Pages group Yell has suspended dividend payments as it renegotiates its banking covenants and attempts to reduce its overall indebtedness.

Plumbing supplies firm Wolseley reported a 77.1% drop in full-year pre-tax profits to £145m compared with £634m last time. The group said no final dividend will be paid to conserve £150m of cash, but there is no need for new equity it added.

Russia-focused gold miner Peter Hambro's net profit fell sharply in the six months to June. Sales were up by more than 50% to $146m, up from $93m, but net profits fell to $14.8m from $21.8m after one-off adjustments. Total attributable gold production was c.147,000 oz for the period, up by c.9% compared to c.134,300 oz in the first six months of 2007.

British Gas owner Centrica has bought Caythorpe Gas Storage Limited (CGSL) from Warwick Energy for £70m in cash. CGSL owns the onshore Caythorpe gas producing field near Bridlington in East Yorkshire. Caythorpe has planning permission for conversion to an onshore gas storage.

Gem Diamonds has discovered a 478 carat white diamond at the Let¡eng Mine in Lesotho. The diamond, which is yet to be named, ranks as the 20th largest rough diamond ever to be recovered, the group said.

Electrical cable, plug and connectors specialist Volex has put its Power Products division up for sale after a strategic review of its business. Proceeds from a disposal would develop and strengthen the remaining divisions with surplus cash returned to shareholders.

Venture Production's Chestnut oil field has commenced production. Venture is the operator and holds a 69.875% working interest in the part of block 22/2a containing the Chestnut field.

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