LONDON (ShareCast) - A positive morning session on Wall Street offered a smidgen of solace for London, which closed off its lows.

Miners and banks were the major casualties today. Weaker copper and gold prices sent ENRC, Vedanta, Anglo American, Xstrata and Kazakhmys into decline.

In the banking sector HBOS remained in the doldrums, as did Lloyds TSB and Royal Bank of Scotland but HSBC defied the trend and edged higher.

This week’s oil price rally has hit fuel dependent companies, and despite the price of crude falling back today, holiday companies Thomas Cook and TUI were weaker along with bus and train groups Stagecoach and First Group.

Hedge fund manager Man Group fell back after securities firm Jefferies has instigated coverage with an “underperform” rating.

Defensive stalwarts were the main risers. Unilever, International Power, Centrica, Scottish & Southern Energy, BATs and Imperial Tobacco all made headway, the latter ahead of a trading announcement tomorrow.

Pub group Mitchells & Butlers' like for like sales were up 1.3% during the nine weeks to 20 September, with same outlet food sales up 3.6% and drinks up 0.3%. The firm said productivity gains and cost management continue to help offset cost increases.

Tate & Lyle was down after losing the first round of a generic competition battle in the US courts over its key sucralose brand, Splenda. It will appeal the decision.

Water group Severn Trent expects its first half performance to be consistent with prior guidance and its forecasts for the full year.

In contrast, Colt Telecom edged higher after Merrill Lynch upgraded the telecoms company to “neutral” from “underperform”. Merrill Lynch has a 132p price target for Colt.

Profit on ordinary activities before tax and exceptional items jumped nearly 10% to £11.1m at soft drinks group AG Barr during the first half. Turnover grew almost 6% for the six months ended 26 July to £82.4m, with IRN-BRU brand revenue up by 5.8% as sales increased across England, Wales and Scotland.

Sports fashion retailer JD Sports bucked a weak consumer trend to lift profits by over 70% in the half year to August. Pre-tax profits jumped from £5.3m to £9.1m on turnover up 19% at £299m. Underlying profits rose by 54% to £12.4m.

Carpet retailer Carpetright remains cautious about its expectations for the full financial year due to low levels of consumer confidence and the deterioration in the housing and financial markets.

Cake-maker Finsbury Foods reported a drop in full-year pre-tax profit, but said it is well equipped to deal with the challenges it faces. Pre-tax profit for the year to end-June fell to £5.1m, down from £5.4m a year earlier, on turnover of £169m, up from £109.8m.

Mapeley has announced that chief financial officer Nick Friedlos will be appointed as chief executive with effect from 1 January 2009 to succeed Jamie Hopkins.

Schools IT specialist RM's trading during the year so far has been consistent with management's expectations for the year as a whole. It is now delivering eight of the eleven BSF (Building Schools for the Future) projects it has so far been selected for.

Local newspaper group Johnston Press tumbled after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock from “hold” to “sell”, with the price target cut to 35p from 50p. Elsewhere in the newspaper sector Deutsche also downgraded Daily Mail and Trinity Mirror.

Restructuring costs in the US sent stockbroker Panmure Gordon tumbling deep into the red in the first half of 2008.

External adverse factors, including earthquakes and political protests, caused interim profits to be below expectations at South China-focused travel operator Et-China.com.

Shares in Cryo-Save dropped sharply after the cell storage specialist warned that full-year results will be below expectations.

FTSE 100 - Risers
International Power (IPR) 364.50p +2.53%
Unilever (ULVR) 1,486.00p +2.34%
Hammerson (HMSO) 983.50p +1.81%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,761.00p +1.79%
British Land Co (BLND) 756.50p +1.34%
British American Tobacco (BATS) 1,787.00p +1.07%
Centrica (CNA) 329.25p +1.00%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,390.00p +0.80%
HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 873.00p +0.75%
National Grid (NG.) 708.50p +0.64%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 605.00p -11.87%
HBOS (HBOS) 184.40p -11.77%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,540.00p -9.62%
Man Group (EMG) 393.00p -9.34%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,132.00p -8.38%
Schroders NV (SDRC) 820.00p -7.66%
Xstrata (XTA) 2,237.00p -7.64%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 702.50p -7.57%
Stagecoach Group (SGC) 281.75p -7.09%
Kingfisher (KGF) 134.90p -6.97%

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