BP Share News (BP.)

Stocks have opened higher on a quiet day on the company news front, consolidating recent gains and moving closer to the psychologically important 6,000 point mark.BP - more specifically last year's disastrous oil spill - is in focus again, but the oil giant's shares are higher after it said MOEX, part of the Japanese trading house Mitsui and the 10% owner of the Macondo oil well that blew up so disastrously last year, has agreed to pay the British oil giant $1.065bn.Pub group Mitchells & Butlers's trumpeting of the success of its move into food sales has failed to prevent sharp falls in its share price this morning. It made more money from food than drink for the first time in the half year to 9 April, but pre-tax profits at the All Bar One and O' Neills owner fell to £43m from £72m in the same period the previous year on total revenues that fell to £946m from £1.04bn.Shares in HMV have soared after the CD, DVD and book retailer said it has agreed to sell its bookshop chain has reached agreement on the sale of its bookshop chain Waterstones to the Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, for £53m. Scottish and Southern Energy, the utility company, bumped up the dividend a bit more than expected. The full year dividend has been hiked 7.1% to 75p from 70p last year, a shade above market expectations of a 74.8p pay-out. Adjusted profit before tax in the year to March 31st rose 1.6% to £1,310m from £1,290m the year before, topping the market consensus forecast of £1.24bn.Northgate, the light commercial vehicle hire specialist, has promoted Chris Muir, its UK finance director, to the position of group finance directorFTSE 100 - RisersBP (BP.) 459.75p +2.65%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,077.00p +1.89%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,613.00p +1.77%Prudential (PRU) 752.00p +1.62%John Wood Group (WG.) 666.50p +1.52%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,551.00p +1.51%Old Mutual (OML) 131.50p +1.39%Invensys (ISYS) 303.90p +1.37%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,732.00p +1.17%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 139.70p +1.16%FTSE 100 - FallersImperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,194.00p -0.90%Next (NXT) 2,253.00p -0.66%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,126.50p -0.57%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 643.50p -0.54%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,333.00p -0.26%ARM Holdings (ARM) 575.00p -0.26%Sage Group (SGE) 290.00p -0.24%BAE Systems (BA.) 340.10p -0.21%Man Group (EMG) 250.00p -0.20%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,110.00p -0.05%FTSE 250 - RisersMicro Focus International Plc (MCRO) 390.30p +5.54%Rightmove (RMV) 1,110.00p +3.64%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 117.50p +2.26%Electrocomponents (ECM) 297.20p +2.10%De La Rue (DLAR) 843.00p +2.00%Henderson Group (HGG) 148.90p +1.99%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 468.00p +1.74%Restaurant Group (RTN) 303.80p +1.64%United Business Media Ltd. (UBM) 613.00p +1.57%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 172.70p +1.47%FTSE 250 - FallersMitchells & Butlers (MAB) 312.00p -7.25%Marston's (MARS) 108.40p -1.63%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 618.50p -1.51%CPP Group (CPP) 136.10p -1.38%Punch Taverns (PUB) 75.00p -1.19%Supergroup (SGP) 1,104.00p -1.08%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 50.90p -0.97%Mothercare (MTC) 442.00p -0.85%JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 290.60p -0.75%Berendsen (BRSN) 485.30p -0.74%