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FTSE 100 flat as Barclays, Lonmin, Kazakhmys and Vodafone weigh

Last updated: 12:34 10 Nov 2009 GMT, First published: 13:34 10 Nov 2009 GMT

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Overview: the FTSE 100 performed in line with pre-trade projections, rising 0.2% by midday as investors had to digest a pile of corporate results that came out this morning.

Heavyweights Barclays (LSE: BARC), HSBC (LSE: HSBA), Imperial Tobacco (LSE: IMT), InterContinental Hotels Group (LSE: IHT), Vodafone (LSE: VOD) and Schroders (LSE: SDRC) were ht ekey movers after releasing updates early in the day.

HSBC (LSE: HSBA) was in the lead with a 4.2% gain on the back of the better than expected Q3 report released today. Tobacco giant Imperial Tobacco Group (LSE: IMT), which beat expectations with its full year results, and asset management firm Schroders (LSE: SDRC), whose Q3 results also were ahead of projections, were the other two stocks to make it to the top three with gains of 3.3% and 3.7% respectively.

Beverage group Diageo (LSE: DGO) and fashion house Burberry (LSE: BRBY) joined in, climbing 3% and 2% respectively.

Medical devices manufacturer Smith & Nephew (LSE: SN), commercial property company Liberty International (LSE: LII), software manufacturer Autonomy Corporation (LSE: AU) and energy company Centrica (LSE: CNA) followed, advancing 1.5%.

The fallers were led by gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS), which slid 4.7% despite swinging to profits in Q3. HSBC’s fellow banking group Barclays (LSE: BARC) followed with a 3.5% loss on quarterly results. Platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI), copper miner Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) and mobile operator Vodafone (LSE: VOD), which released its interims saying the performance was in line with expectations, also shed more than 3%.

Stock index futures in the US declined, pointing to a lower start on Wall Street, where the key indexes gains over 2% yesterday.

Commodities

Oil prices inched higher as December Brent Crude improved to US$77.68/barrel and US light, sweet crude rose to US$78.23/barrel.

Major oil and gas stocks were mixed today. Shell (LSE: RDSB) was in the lead with a 1% gain. Fellow supermajor BP (LSE: BP) and Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) posted small gains.

Other FTSE 100 constituents BG Group (LSE: BG) and Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE) declined marginally, while Petrofac (LSE: PFC) was at the bottom of the pile with a 2.4% loss.

Midcaps didn’t show much movement as Heritage Oil (LSE: HOIL) and Dana Petroleum (LSE: DNX) slid marginally, while Dragon Oil (SLE: DGO) was flat.

US focused junior Empyrean Energy (AIM: EME) led the sector with a 15% rally after releasing a drilling update from its Riverbend project, where operator Krescent Energy encountered significant gas flares in the Quinn 3H well.

Eastern Europe focused junior Aurelian Oil & Gas (AIM: AUL) and North America focused oil & gas junior Pantheon Resources (AIM: PANR) also were in buying mode, tacking on 4.5% and 3.5% respectively.

Western Europe operating oil and gas company Northern Petroleum (AIM: NOP) headed in the opposite direction, sliding 4%. Kazakhstan operating Max Petroleum (LSE: MXP), Mongolia-focused Petro Matad Ltd (AIM: MATD) and North American based explorer Nighthawk Energy (AIM: HAWK) joined in, declining 3%.

Iraq and Algeria operating Gulf Keystone Petroleum (AIM: GKP) and Atlantic Canada operating oil and gas group Enegi Oil (AIM: ENEG) lost more than 2.5%.

Gold and sliver slide to push down miners

Precious metals were in decline as gold slipped below US$1,100/oz, while silver and platinum moved down to US$17.25/oz and US$1,349/oz respectively.

All mining stocks were in the red in mid afternoon. Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) was the leading decliner and a loss of almost 5%. Fellow FTSE 100 constituents platinum miner Lonmin (LSE: LMI) and silver producer Fresnillo (LSE: FRES) declined 3.5% and 2% respectively.

Specialty chemicals firm Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT) performed relatively well, keeping its losses marginal.

Midcaps followed suit with gold miner Petropavlovsk (LSE: POG) sliding 4%, Aquarius Plaitnum (LSE: AQP) shedding 2% and silver producer Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) retreating 1.2%.

Yamana Gold (LSE: YAU) outperformed the market, rising 4.5%.

South American based explorer Mariana Resources (AIM: MARL) led the juniors with a 16% climb after raising £2.6 million for the exploration programme at its Dos Calandrias gold-silver project in Argentina.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) followed, climbing almost 7%. Uzbekistan focused gold miner Oxus Gold (AIM: OXS) and Kazakhstan operating gold producer and copper developer Frontier Mining (AIM: FML) added more than 4%.

Africa operating gold miner GMA Resources (AIM: GMA) was up 3%.

Australian gold and copper prospector Solomon Gold (AIM: SOLG) and Tajikistan operating gold miner Kryso Resources (AIM: KYS) were in selling mode, shedding 6% and 3% respectively.

Copper and nickel tumble

Base metals focused stocks were in selling mode today as copper and nickel continued their decline, sliding to US$2.92/lb and US$7.64/lb respectively, while zinc dropped to US$0.96/lb.

Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ) led the fallers in the sector, sliding 3.6%. Xstrata (LSE: XTA) and Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) followed with losses of over 2%. Anglo American (LSE: AAL) and Eurasian Natural Resources (LSE: ENRC) shed more than 1.5%, while Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED) was down 1.2%.

BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT) declined marginally.

Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) went against the tide, posting marginal gains.

London's only listed pure iron ore producer and FTSE 250 constituent, Ferrexpo (LSE: FXPO) also outperformed the sector, adding almost 1%.

South Africa operating chrome miner Chromex Mining (AIM: CHX) led the sector with a 20% rally after saying it was continuing to generate positive cash flow and announced the acquisition of additional chrome assets in Zimbabwe.

Botswana operating nickel and copper miner Discovery Metals (AIM: DME) followed with a 10% rise. Philippines operating nickel miner Rusina Mining (ASX: RML; AIM: RMLA) also did well, climbing 4.5%.

Specialty minerals exploration and development company Thor Mining (AIM: THR) was among the leading fallers with a 7% decline. Mineral sands producer Kenmare Resources (LSE: KMR) and copper and nickel explorer Regency Mines (AIM: RGM) also retreated, shedding 3%.

Banks, insurance, private equity

Banking stocks were mixed. Barclays (LSE: BARC) was the leading faller with a 3.8% slide. Part-nationalised banks Lloyds (LSE: LLOY) and Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS) followed with marginal losses.

However, HSBC (LSE: HSBA) managed to gain 4.5% after releasing a strong set of quarterly results. Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN) followed with a 1.5% climb.

With the exception of car insurer Admiral Group (LSE: AMD), which posted a small gain, all insurers turned negative today.

Aviva (LSE: AV), Legal & General (LSE: LGEN) and Standard Life (LSE: SL) were the leading fallers with losses of almost 2%. Prudential (LSE: PRU) and RSA Insurance Group (LSE: RSA) retreated nearly 1%.
Old Mutual (LSE: OML) declined marginally.

Private equity group 3i (LSE: III) rose marginally.

Small Cap Movers

Other notable movers among the small caps included environmental science and technology company Accsys Technologies (AIM: ACCS) with a 5% climb and developer of CAD and image analysis software Medicsight (AIM: MDST), which lost 4.5%.

Large and Mid Cap News

UK listed telecommunications firm, Vodafone (LSE: VOD) reported their results for the first half ended 30th September 2009, in which revenues increased by more than 9%. The strong revenue growth was largely driven by the acquisition of Vodacom in South Africa and a significant rise in demand for the company’s emerging data carrying business. Vodafone Chief Exec, VIttorio Colao said that Vodafone expects to reduce costs by a further £2 billion by 2012. The group expects to attain full year adjusted operating profit between £11bn and £11.8bn.

In this morning’s Q3 interim results, gold miner Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS, NYSE: GOLD) reported in-line gold sales, and reiterated that it has four development projects where mining “is on the horizon”.

Barclays (LSE: BARC), is the latest of the UK’s ‘Big Four’ banking stocks to report their interim results in which current positive operating performances are being offset by increased impairments and charges. Investors appeared to have responded with some disappointment this morning as shares in the banking group have weighed down the FTSE 100, falling more than 2% this morning following the mixed results.

In this morning’s interim statement HSBC (LSE: HSBA) said that profitability for the first nine months of 2009 was stronger than expected with underlying pre-tax profits ahead of the same period last year. HSBC identified its diversified business model and ‘tight cost control’ as influences which ‘continue to deliver broadly based profits’. Investors have welcomed the statement as HSBC shares advanced almost 5% following the news, elsewhere today Barclays shares dropped 2.5% after posting less impressive results.

Food manufacturer Northern Foods (LSE: NFDS) said it was on track to meet its full year guidance as like for like sales increased 2.9% in the first half as its Chilled and Bakery divisions performed strongly.

The Yell Group (LSE: YELL) announced their interim results for the half year ended 30th September 2009 and also proposed a £660 million equity based fund raising.

Materials science company Cookson Group (LSE: CKSN) said it expected its full year profit to be at the upper end of analysts’ forecasts as Q3 revenues increased 9% quarter on quarter at constant exchange rates and improved end-market and trading performance continued into the final quarter of the year.

Small Cap News

London listed Kalahari Minerals (AIM: KAH) stated this morning that it had continued buying shares in Extract Resources (TSX & ASX: EXT).  Kalahari now holds approximately 98 million shares in Extract Resources, up from 97 million shares as of 12 October 2009.  As a percentage, Kalahari’s stake represents 40.43% of Extract Resources equity, down from 40.88% on 12 October 2009, after 5.2 million warrants in the Company were exercised.

Argentina focused gold explorer Patagonia Gold (AIM: PGD) said the current infill drilling programme at its La Manchuria gold-silver project in Argentina continued to intercept bonanza gold and silver grades with a NI43-101 estimate for the project still expected in Q2 2010.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia operating gold explorer KEFI Minerals (AIM: KEF) has extended its relationship with Centerra Gold (TSX: CG), establishing a joint venture (JV) over its 100% owned Bakir Tepe project in southwestern Turkey.

Investors reacted warmly to an update from South Africa focused chromite produce, Chromex Mining (AIM: CHX)(‘Chromex’), which reported today that it was continuing to generate positive cash flow and announced the acquisition of additional chrome assets in Zimbabwe.

Turkey focused gold miner Ariana Resources (AIM: AAU) has announced the results of trenching programme undertaken on the Salinbas prospect, which returned high grade bedrock intercepts.

South American based explorer Mariana Resources (AIM: MARL) has undertaken a share placement at 13 pence per share to raise a total £2.6 million to fund the exploration programme at its Dos Calandrias gold-silver project in Argentina.

African Medical Investments PLC (AIM: AMEI) has drawn down an initial US$20.25 million after expenses in line with the late October agreement on a US$47 million equity line with an investment fund managed by New York based Harbinger Capital Partners LLC.

Libra Advisors, which acts as investment advisor to Libra Fund and Libra Offshore, announced this morning that it had increased its stake in African focussed soft commodity specialist, Agriterra Limited (AIM: AGTA).  Libra now holds a cumulative 34.722 million shares, or approximately 6.46% of Agriterra.

Lonrho PLC (AIM: LONR) expects to see strong progress in the first quarter of the 2010 financial year after each of its core businesses continued to perform to expectations in the fourth quarter.

US focused junior Empyrean Energy (AIM: EME) said the Quinn 3H well, currently drilled at its Riverbend project, in Texas encountered multiple significant gas flares including multiple flares over 100 feet and one over 200 feet.

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