FRM.L Share News (FRM)

Hopes that Wall Street might provide a fillip to UK shares have been dashed as US markets open in a similarly dull fashion to London. Mining stocks and financials are the worst performers while defensive sectors such as tobaccos and supermarkets have returned to favour.Mining giant Rio Tinto is lower after it agreed a 33% cut in contract fine iron ore prices with Japan's Nippon Steel Corp for the current shipping year, in a deal likely to set the benchmark for other settlements.The head of the group's iron ore operations, Sam Walsh, has hinted that the company's controversial cash injection deal with Chinalco may yet be revised. Addressing reporters at a mineral conference in Canberra, Australia, Walsh said the group would make up its mind on the $19.5bn share stake sale to Chinese state-owned aluminium producer Chinalco after it had taken soundings from investors and the Australian authorities.Elsewhere in the sector, Kazakhmys, BHP Billiton, Anglo American and Xstrata are all well down. Financials are also weighing on the market with Lloyds Banking Group weaker on week-end newspaper reports that it is looking to offload stakes in more than 60 businesses inherited when it took over HBOS.Royal Bank of Scotland is also rocked by week-end press comment, with the Sunday Independent suggesting that Richard Rae, the head of its smaller companies research unit at Hoare Govett, RBS's stockbroking unit, intends to leave the company and take his team with him.Insurers are also out of favour with Prudential, Aviva and Legal & General amongst the top ten major fallers.Shares in Rexam were higher after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the beverage can maker to "buy" from "neutral" and added the stock to its "conviction buy" List.The defensive properties of tobacco stocks prompt demand for BATs and IMPs while supermarkets such as Sainsbury, Wm. Morrison and Tesco are also in demand from cautious investors. Half-year losses have doubled at short break specialist Holidaybreak, but are in line with the firm's expectations. The pre-tax loss for the six months ended 31 March 2009 jumped to £36.6m from £18.2m a year ago on revenue down to £153.2m from £156m. The underlying loss before tax grew to £18.1m from £14.9m.Hard times are driving people towards pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond with results for the year to June now predicted to be "significantly ahead of market expectations". The core pawnbroker business has been boosted by the higher price of gold, which has enhanced the yield on unredeemed loans, A&B said.Spread betting firm IG Group said it expects rule changes being contemplated by the Financial Services Agency of Japan will probably only affect a minority of the group's Japanese clients, measured both by number of clients and by trading volume. Homeserve has extended its reach in continental Europe through the acquisition of electrical appliances warranty provider, Société Française de Garantie (SFG). The UK home emergency insurance cover specialist is paying April Group SA £24m for SFG, though as the acquired company had £6.9m in cash at the time of acquisition, the net cost of the acquisition is £17.1mAveva's profits surged forward again last year, but the computer aided designer cautioned that the slowdown in global shipping and oil markets is now having an impact on orders.Scottish soft drinks giant AG Barr has had an "excellent" start to its financial year, with like for like revenue in the first 15 weeks "well ahead" of the same time last year.Shares in celebrity agent Formation Group soared after it confirmed it has received indications of interest from private equity group Gresham over 'certain parts' of the business. Coal bed methane (CBM) developer Island Gas Resources was celebrating on Tuesday the first electricity generated from CBM gas in the UK.Mobile phone billing software group eServGlobal has warned it will report an EBITDA loss of A$3m after restructuring costs and a 13% cut in headcount since the start of 2009Offshore safety specialist Cosalt said the anticipated second-half recovery in trading will not be enough to prevent full-year results from being below market expectations.Restaurant group Carluccio's said that it is no longer involved in discussions relating to a potential takeover of the company.