RHL.L Share News (RHL)

Footsie gave up a brief rally to close in the red on an uncertain day's trading in the wake of Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke's nervous comments on US economic prospects yesterday. Shares in the US moved lower despite having rallied earlier.Similar sentiments to those expressed by Bernanke appeared in minutes released by the Bank of England today from its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting earlier this month. The MPC voted 8-1 in favour of keeping interest rates at a record low of 0.5%. Andrew Sentence, who repeated his call for a 25 basis point rate rise, said that the rebound in domestic demand over the past year suggested that the recovery would have sufficient momentum to withstand fiscal tightening, but other MPC members have become concerned about economic prospects.Mining stocks moved ahead industrial metal miners such as Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and Rio Tinto overtaking gold miners such as African Barrick, Fresnillo, and Randgold, which raced ahead in the morning session as the price of gold hit a new high. Anglo-Swiss mining giant Xstrata was also on the up after announcing it has successfully negotiated a $4bn multi-currency revolving credit facility to replace its existing $5.5bn facility, which matures in October 2011.BHP Billiton shareholders will demand success from chief executive Marius Kloppers this year after it emerged that the company, currently facing the prospect of a bid battle for Potash Corp, paid him $11.3m (£7.2m) in 2009. Kloppers, who's coming up to three years in the job now, received a base salary and bonus of $4.4m, with chunky pension, dividend and share-based payments making up the rest.Elsewhere, shares in Imperial Tobacco proved a draw as the Lambert & Butler cigarettes maker assured the market it is still on track to meet forecasts for the year, though growth in tobacco revenues has slowed slightly over the last six months. IMPs expects net revenues to be up around 3% in the year to 30 September compared with a 4% gain to £3.4bn for the six months to 31 March. Stockbroker Killik & Co was singing IMPs' praises as "one of the most attractively rated defensive companies in the market" with a little bit of added spice of murmurings of bid interest, though given the level of debt IMPs has and the regulatory hurdles any bidder would have to clear, the broker considers the prospect of a bid to be low.Broker comment was less helpful to pumps maker Weir , just a couple of days after it made it into the FTSE 100. RBS has changed its stance on the company's shares from "buy" to "hold", even though it has raised its target price from 1412p to 1567p.Moir Lockhead, the veteran chief executive of FirstGroup, is to retire next March after twenty one years in charge of the bus and train group. His replacement will be his current deputy Tim O'Toole, previously the managing director of London Underground.Waste management firm Shanks has been a bid target in the past, having been approached by private equity group Carlyle, and it could be a target again in the near future if market gossip is to be believed. The shares are the best performers among FTSE 250 companies. The utility solutions arm of energy supplier Scottish and Southern Energy is to develop an embedded electricity network for Nissan Motor manufacturing UK.Redhall has agreed to buy Mount Engineering for 70p per share, valuing the oil and gas valve maker at £16m. Redhall said the purchase will boost in its international presence in the oil and gas market and strengthen its specialist manufacturing capability, especially in high hazard markets.Shareholders are loving Internet dating agency Easydate after it won the hand of rival Cupid for which it will pay a total of $6.6m (£4.4m) from US owners OnTargetJobs.Sugar replacement firm PureCircle said full year operating profit slumped as it decided to move all sales solely to end users.FTSE 100 - RisersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,214.00p +3.14%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,440.00p +2.86%Randgold Resources (RRS) 6,485.00p +2.77%Xstrata (XTA) 1,198.50p +2.66%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 601.00p +2.47%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,652.50p +2.31%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,000.00p +2.09%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,220.00p +2.01%Cairn Energy (CNE) 445.00p +1.95%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,926.00p +1.74%FTSE 100 - FallersAviva (AV.) 397.00p -4.80%Invensys (ISYS) 281.70p -3.30%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,769.00p -3.28%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,395.00p -3.12%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,369.00p -2.77%WPP Group (WPP) 709.50p -2.74%Essar Energy (ESSR) 444.10p -2.59%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,212.00p -2.42%Hammerson (HMSO) 387.20p -2.30%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 47.50p -2.22%FTSE 250 - RisersShanks Group (SKS) 109.80p +6.09%ITE Group (ITE) 170.00p +2.53%Victrex (VCT) 1,230.00p +2.50%Keller Group (KLR) 626.00p +2.37%Cranswick (CWK) 840.50p +2.25%Shaftesbury (SHB) 438.40p +2.12%Gartmore Group (GRT) 114.80p +1.59%Centamin Egypt (CEY) 187.50p +1.52%Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 591.00p +1.46%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 141.20p +1.36%FTSE 250 - FallersDevro (DVO) 242.40p -5.75%Supergroup (SGP) 1,221.00p -5.50%Pace (PIC) 188.50p -5.04%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 19.00p -5.00%Kier Group (KIE) 1,124.00p -4.91%Morgan Crucible (MGCR) 206.40p -4.84%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 131.10p -4.65%PZ Cussons (PZC) 366.80p -4.03%CPP Group (CPP) 264.20p -3.93%JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 465.40p -3.82%