ShareCast News

Mining stocks spent the day in the doghouse as China's manufacturing data provided no more encouragement for bulls of the sector than did the UK's.

Russian steel giant Evraz turned lower on the data, as did miners Randgold, Vedanta, Fresnillo and ENRC, the last mentioned after a run of the mill production update.

Chilean copper miner Antofagasta defied the trend, however, rising after it reaffirmed full year production guidance in its second quarter output update.

Emerging markets focused bank Standard Chartered rose after it saw profit before tax for the six months to the end of June was up 9% to $3,636m from $3,139m the year before, in line with operating income, which improved to $9,511m from $8.764m in the first half of 2011.

Fashion firm Next continues to march to a different drum in the retail sector, with its online and catalogue sales coming to the rescue in a period when umbrellas were the must-have accessory to any outfit. Total sales for the first half of 2012 were up 4.5% against last year, the firm said, topping its prediction of growth between 1% and 4%.



FTSE 100 - Risers

Next (NXT) 3,453.00p +7.27%

Shire Plc (SHP) 1,938.00p +4.87%

Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,532.50p +4.64%

Admiral Group (ADM) 1,141.00p +4.49%

Vodafone Group (VOD) 187.90p +2.90%

Aggreko (AGK) 2,099.00p +2.79%

Old Mutual (OML) 161.80p +2.60%

SABMiller (SAB) 2,827.00p +2.54%

Pearson (PSON) 1,226.00p +2.51%

Aviva (AV.) 298.70p +2.43%

FTSE 100 - Fallers

Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,630.00p -2.93%

Vedanta Resources (VED) 957.00p -1.95%

Whitbread (WTB) 2,099.00p -1.73%

Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 387.10p -1.50%

Fresnillo (FRES) 1,436.00p -1.37%

United Utilities Group (UU.) 676.00p -1.02%

Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,160.00p -0.92%

BG Group (BG.) 1,251.50p -0.83%

Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 320.70p -0.80%

Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,280.00p -0.78%

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