London afternoon: Retailers keep Footsie in blue
London's blue chips are drifting a little ahead of the US open, though retailers are still in demand and oil stocks are picking up.
Kingfisher jumped to the top of the risers list on bid rumours that a private equity firm is stalking the firm. Home Retail Group, owner of Argos and Homebase, rose in sympathy while other retailers Next and Marks & Spencer are also doing well.
Meanwhile in the FTSE 250, power supply protection firm Chloride surged ahead after it revealed that it had rejected a 255.5p takeover offer.
JP Morgan trimmed its price target on DSG International to 70p from 75p but shares have surged ahead on more bid rumours. Results are also due later this week and talk is of heavy retrenchment to fight back against the fierce competition.
Back in Footsie, Centrica is up after it said the current outlook for gas prices creates a challenging environment for energy suppliers but added that it will take the necessary action to deliver reasonable margins in the retail business. Big price increases are likely to compensate for the tough conditions for its residential arm British Gas.
British Energy is down on disappointment that French group EDF is the only party interested in making a full bid.
Kazakhmys is the heaviest faller after rejecting an offer of around 1,550p a share from fellow Kazakh miner ENRC just ahead of the close of trading Friday. Meanwhile South American miner Antofagasta tracks copper prices lower.
A strong performance in Asia helped HSBC report first-quarter profits ahead of last year's, despite a further $2.6bn in credit crunch-related write-downs and a $3.2bn impairment charge.
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Investec Securities has raised its recommendation on HMV to 'hold' from 'sell', noting the music and DVD retailer's increased video game sales.
Trading systems software group Fidessa predicts results this year will be at the upper end of market forecasts. "The year has started well with strong revenue growth and stable margins. Good progress has been made across all regions and product lines and the indications are that the structural changes in the market, which occurred in 2007, are resulting in increased fragmentation of liquidity, which is driving demand for our product set," it said.
Care-home operator Southern Cross Healthcare lifted underlying profits by 41% to £30.8m in the six months to March, slightly better than forecasts. The number of beds rose 14% to just over 37,000 at the end of the first half.
Scottish dairy group Robert Wiseman warned that a combination of cost and revenue pressures will "disappointingly impact profitability in the current year." Soaring energy prices, rising wage costs and delays in increasing selling prices are expected to hit profits by around £8.5m this financial year, the group said in today's company update.
Oil and gas explorer Dana Petroleum has made a discovery in Block 210/24a of the East Rinnes oil field in the North Sea. The East Rinnes discovery well, 210/24a-11z, was drilled to a total measured depth of 6,935 feet and encountered a full Brent reservoir sequence
Online gaming company 888 Holdings has teamed up with gaming software company Gaming Technology Solutions to modify its gaming platform to make it easier to launch new games.
Flat speaker technology group NTX rallied on a deal to equip two new Toyota models.
