TCM.L Share News (TCM)

London equities are sleepwalking to a dull end to a dull week.Life assurance stocks feature among the weakest performers as global markets continue to drift lower. Aviva, Prudential and Standard Life suffer the biggest falls in the sector.In the mining sector Rio Tinto is still under a cloud after four of its employees were arrested in China. Anglo American, meanwhile, has confirmed the appointment of Sir John Parker as chairman from the end of the month succeeding Sir Mark Moody-Stuart who is to retire after seven years as chairman. He is expected to support the miner's rejection of merger approaches from Xstrata and help chief executive Cynthia Carroll in building a strong defence strategy.Home Retail Group, owner of the Argos chain, has the wind in its sails after the weekly trading update from John Lewis. The department store group said it sold more electric fans during last week's heatwave than it did in the whole of 2008, which bodes well for sales of fans at Argos. John Lewis also said fashion sales were up, giving a boost to Marks & Spencer and Next, while its supermarket chain, Waitrose, saw a rise in sales as people rushed out to buy picnic and barbeque foods, and this has encouraged demand for Tesco shares.Publishing group Pearson is lifted by a broker upgrade. Credit Suisse has upgraded the stock from "neutral" to "outperform".Bovis has scrapped its interim dividend but said the housing market has shown signs of stabilisation during the first half. Bodycote was downbeat Friday as the engineering firm said half-year revenue fell by a fifth and warned of a marginal operating loss before exceptional items. A weak automotive sector and continuing decline in demand from the oil and gas industry has cut revenue for the six months to 30 June 2009 by 20%, or 31% on a constant currency basis.Aircraft services group BBA Aviation said it has been outperforming the market during the first six months of the year and expects to continue doing so in the second half despite volatile markets. Building maintenance and services group Interserve is trading in line with expectations and ahead of last year's operating performance.Building products supplier SIG saw a 10% fall in sales in the half year to June 30 as it continued to feel the impact of the depressed construction market. In the second half of June sales were stable 'without exhibiting the level of seasonal pickup in activity, which typically manifests itself from late spring onwards,' the firm said.Support and maintenance services supplier Mitie has made a steady start to the year with revenues booked already at 78% of the expected total for the year. This time last year the total booked was 83%.Aim-listed property group London & Stamford is to raise £226m through a placing and open offer to fund recent acquisitions and give it the firepower to make more.Wireless technology provider Telit Communications said it is seeing a continued downward trend in revenues despite higher sales as selling prices of products for connecting mobile phones fall more than expected.