PVCS.L Share News (PVCS)

Indecision on Wall Street prompted a spell of profit taking in the UK in the middle of the afternoon session which threatened to wipe out the morning's gains, but London's blue-chips rallied at the death to keep the Footsie in the blue.Mining stocks were the best performers with silver miner Fresnillo leading the way. Lonmin, Kazakhmys and Antofagasta also notched up chunky gains as metal prices recovered, while Rio Tinto got a boost from being named as UBS's top pick in the sector. UBS also likes Vedanta in the mining sector but feels sector leader BHP Billiton is fairly valued. UBS is less enamoured of Vodafone, which was the weakest of the blue-chips after the Swiss bank cut its recommendation on the mobile phone giant from "buy" to "neutral" and took a hatchet to the target price, down to 115p from 150p. Morgan Stanley also shaved its target price for Voda, from 175p to 170p, but retained its "overweight" stance, while Societe Generale, which is bearish on the stock, also trimmed its price target by 5p to 105p.Retail stocks were out of favour despite broadly favourable retail sales trends in June. Like-for-like retail sales rose 1.4% last month compared with June 2008, after declining 0.8% in May, figures from the British Retail Consortium indicated. Total sales, which include new floor space, were up 3.2% on the year, having risen 0.8% in May.Tesco, Marks & Spencer, Wm. Morrison and Next all fell back, the last mentioned despite being raised to "overweight" from "equal weight" by Morgan Stanley. Consumer goods giant Unilever also lost ground despite its rating beign raised to "overweight" from "neutral" by JP Morgan.Insurance group RSA has taken out a £1.9bn insurance policy with Goldman Sachs against higher pension costs. "This action covers around one third of the Group's total UK pension schemes' liabilities, representing over 55% of the liabilities relating to pensions in payment," said the group.Among second-liners oil explorer Heritage Oil was wanted on market whispers that Royal Dutch Shell is lining up a bid. Engineering conglomerate Melrose moved ahead on an upbeat trading statement. Trading is in line with expectations for the full year and said cash generation during the first six months of 2009 has been 'excellent'. Soft drinks maker Britvic's profits this year will beat the top end of market forecast as demand in the UK has soared with the hot weather. So strong are the numbers, Britvic brought forward today's trading update by ten days. Iron ore firm Ferrexpo produced at full capacity and traded profitably in the second quarter. Total pellet production in the second quarter rose by 21.1% compared with the previous three month period and was up by 3.8% compared to the equivalent quarter last year.Construction and regeneration group Morgan Sindall has won a £71m contract with plane maker Airbus to build a wing assembly factory. The factory is expected to be completed by October 2010.PV Crystalox Solar, which produces silicon wafers for use in solar power generation systems, was in the shade after German solar cell maker Q-Cells reported a slide in second quarter revenues and warned of gloomy prospects for the rest of the year.Flooring group Headlam continues to struggle in tough market conditions with first half sales to June down by 8.2%, a slight improvement on earlier in the year. Accountancy services group Tenon expects underlying full-year profits to be in line with forecasts and said its prospects for the next financial year are 'encouraging.' The group said excellent growth has been generated in its Recovery and related service lines, with revenue ahead by more than 30% over the prior year.Industrial chains maker Renold revealed a sharp drop in full year pre-tax profit as economic conditions in the second half of its financial year deteriorated.Bookmaker technology group Alphameric posted a first half pre-tax profit helped by bumper demand for its TurfTV joint venture and better results from Alphameric Solutions. The shares drift back, however, despite the reinstatement of an interim dividend.Metals group Delta said it enjoyed a better than expected first half but while it sees strong second half trading, it is not expected to be as good as the first.LED technology specialist Dialight gained on news that two major North American metering companies have ordered more than 100,000 combined units of its PowerPulse 200-amp disconnect/reconnect load switch with sales totalling almost $3m.Rail maintenance group Jarvis slipped into the red last year and cautioned that short-term prospects look uncertain. The results were better than expected, however, and the shares steamed ahead.Sports gaming group Leisure & Gaming saw a sharp fall in its net win percentage in three months to June with no large football tournaments taking place. Amounts wagered rose to €38.5m (2008: €28.4m), boosted by poker tournament fees, earning net win of €5.2m (2008: €5.2m) at a net win margin of 13.5% (2008: 18.3%).AIM-listed tiddler Qonnectis has signed a letter of intent with Primary Water to commence trials of Qonnectis's data monitoring products. Qonnectis expects successful trials will lead to a three year deal that will give Primary Water exclusive distribution rights for Qonnectis products in Australia and Russia, and non-exclusive distribution rights for all other countries in the world except the UK, Ireland and China.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 533.00p +13.28%Lonmin (LMI) 1,077.00p +9.34%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 640.50p +8.38%Antofagasta (ANTO) 625.00p +6.47%FTSE 100 - FallersVodafone Group (VOD) 112.80p -1.91%Diageo (DGE) 867.50p -1.20%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 53.71p -0.96%Tesco (TSCO) 359.50p -0.94%