The Footsie turned south over the lunch time session as traders took note of the US stock futures market which indicates US markets will open mixed and miners took a turn for the worse. Anglo-Swedish drugs giant AstraZeneca is still the best performer after it received a favourable US ruling in its battle to keep control of the patents to its best-selling cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor. Sector peer GlaxoSmithKline rises in sympathy.BP is also higher with the company having been "put in play" in the eyes of some by a note from JPMorgan Cazenove which suggested the company is ripe for plucking by a stronger rival such as Exxon Mobil. Meanwhile, the FT says Anadarko, a 25% partner to BP on the Macondo prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, approved several key aspects of the UK company's designs for the project. Elsewhere in the oil sector Essar Energy, Petrofac and Cairn are going well.Mining leviathan Rio Tinto is to raise its stake in Ivanhoe Mines by 7.3% to 29.6% and provide sufficient funds to Ivanhoe to continue the development of the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold complex as scheduled. Miner BHP Billiton is "disappointed" at the Australian Competition Tribunal's decision to let competitors operate their trains on its rail lines. Third parties are now allowed to negotiate with BHP for access to the Goldsworthy iron ore railway line in Western Australia.Elsewhere in the sector the likes of ENRC, Kazakhmys and Anglo American all sustain losses, as doubts persist about economic growth in China.Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered confirmed the well-flagged story that it is to buy into the Agricultural Bank of China. The bank is buying $500m of the H shares being floated by Agricultural Bank of China, one of the top four commercial banks in China.Sector peer Barclays is wanted as it holds an investor seminar today focused on its Global Retail Banking business. The company will be unveiling its plans for achieving its targets of mid-single digit compound annual growth for income and broadly stable net interest margins.Insurer Resolution is higher after returning from suspension and ahead of the deal to take over Axa's UK life business.Oil services specialist Hunting said trading in the first half has been 'very positive' despite the BP oil spill and sluggish natural gas prices, though the group admitted that there will be some impact from the Gulf of Mexico disaster in the second half.Entertainment media retailer HMV announced results that were in line with market expectations, while sales burst through the £2bn level to hit a record level. More importantly for income investors who have taken advantage of the stock's 13% dividend yield, the full year dividend has been held at 7.4p.SDL, the information management solutions provider, has bought Dutch browser-based software developer Xopus. The initial consideration is €1.6m, with the company being bought on a debt free basis. The cost of the acquisition could rise to €2m, depending on the performance of Xopus in the year to 30 June 2011.House price figures from the Nationwide building society has had shareholders of housebuilders racing for the exits. Nationwide said house prices edged up by just 0.1% month-on-month in June. Redrow, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon are among the biggest losers among FTSE 250 constituents.At the opposite end of the FTSE 250 leaderboard sits acquisitive insurance firm Resolution on its return from suspension. The shares had been suspended pending the acquisition of the UK life and pensions operation of Axa.Big hits such as 'Avatar', 'Iron Man 2' and 'Sex and the City 2', helped cinema chain Cineworld overcome the competing attractions of the World Cup and lift revenue by 3.7% in the half year to June.Car and van renter Northgate has returned to profit after the huge write-downs that nearly sank the company last year, but ruled out a dividend in view of the economic uncertainty in both its main markets.A take-over looks off the cards for the moment at Cadogan Petroleum as the company confirmed that the bid approach it announced on 4 June has led to nothing.Trading at shipping services company Clarkson is becoming more buoyant while changes in the sterling/dollar exchange rate means the company's interim results should be ahead of expectations.Drug device combination specialist Biocompatibles said its licencee and marketing partner, Merz Pharmaceuticals, has suspended shipments of Novabel, its facial rejuvenation product. The decision was taken after a few patients treated with the facial contours shaping product had reported adverse reactions.Less than two weeks after denying reports that its Else mobile project was in trouble Israeli technology firm Emblaze has confirmed it is abandoning plans to manufacture the First ELSE mobile device. The company said it will concentrate its efforts on licensing the ELSE Intuition platform and technology in a move that will drastically reduce the company's operational and development costs.
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