Assetco ShareCast News (ASTO)

Shares are flat following Friday's slide.

Imperial Tobacco is lower though after it slashed profit expectations for its Spanish business as competition in the country forced it to cut prices for cigarettes. Imperial, whose brands include Lambert & Butler and Gauloises Blondes cigarettes, said operating profits in Spain could fall short of previous expectations by up to £110m.

Mining giant Kazakhmys is in demand after it secured a $1.5bn loan facility to help the development of a major copper project at Aktogay in Kazakstan. A memorandum of understanding was signed on Monday with the China Development Bank Corporation (CDB) for the loan. Kazakh peer ENRC is also higher.

Aim-listed wine retailer Majestic Wine reported a 26.6% increase in full year profit, lifted its final dividend and said it was encouraged by current trading despite challenging market conditions.

Energy services firm Wood Group will return 140p per share to its shareholders, in the second stage of its £1.08bn return of cash programme. Following the £412m returned through a tender offer two weeks ago, the company will return the residual £665m.

Safety systems specialist Latchways is in demand after it reported record annual profit and revenue as it introduced new products and ramped up sales to overseas markets. The group, whose safety systems are used to provide worker safety in wind power turbines, commercial rooftops, electricity transmission towers, aircraft wings and industrial plants, said pre-tax profit rose to a record £9.3m for the year ended 31 March 2011 from £7.6m the year before.

Fire engine supplier Assetco jumped after it confirmed it is in discussions with a "number of parties which may or may not lead to an offer being made for the business," it confirmed in a statement Monday morning.



FTSE 100 - Risers

Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 771.50p +3.98%

Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,249.00p +3.31%

Barclays (BARC) 261.00p +1.75%

Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 47.69p +1.46%

Tesco (TSCO) 411.00p +1.11%

Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 41.04p +1.08%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,561.50p +1.07%

HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 619.10p +0.86%

Inmarsat (ISAT) 595.00p +0.68%

Old Mutual (OML) 127.10p +0.47%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Aggreko (AGK) 1,895.00p -2.07%

Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,057.00p -1.34%

Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,426.00p -1.24%

Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,233.00p -0.72%

AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,088.00p -0.64%

Shire Plc (SHP) 1,836.00p -0.60%

Xstrata (XTA) 1,327.50p -0.41%

Rexam (REX) 385.70p -0.39%

International Power (IPR) 313.80p -0.38%

Smith & Nephew (SN.) 652.00p -0.38%

FTSE 250 - Risers

JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 292.80p +2.74%

Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 225.40p +1.99%

Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 688.50p +1.77%

Laird (LRD) 136.90p +1.71%

Elementis (ELM) 160.90p +1.64%

Grainger (GRI) 127.80p +1.51%

F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd. (FCPT) 106.90p +1.33%

Sports Direct International (SPD) 219.20p +1.29%

Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 274.00p +1.29%

Murray Income Trust (MUT) 654.50p +1.24%

FTSE 250 - Fallers

Unite Group (UTG) 218.50p -2.46%

RPC Group (RPC) 330.00p -2.31%

Punch Taverns (PUB) 71.05p -2.07%

COLT Group SA (COLT) 144.00p -1.97%

Hays (HAS) 107.50p -1.56%

Helical Bar (HLCL) 252.00p -1.56%

Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 381.10p -1.45%

Ocado Group (OCDO) 222.10p -1.29%

Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,467.00p -1.21%

F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 77.00p -1.16%