Xps Pensions Share News (XPS)

London stocks made further headway over the lunchtime session, with banks and miners still leading the way. Antofagasta, Kazakhmys, Xstrata, Vedanta and Rio Tinto are the stand out performers in the mining sector, as commodity stocks come back into fashion after their recent buffeting, though gold miner African Barrick is one of the rare blue-chips heading south today.Xstrata has reportedly agreed a deal with Tokyo Electric Power to provide the Japanese power provider with Australian thermal coal at $103 a tonne, some 30% higher than the price it agreed last year. Elsewhere in the mining sector BHP Billiton sounded a note of caution following the initially euphoric reception to the Australian government's decision to water down its resource tax proposals. In a letter to shareholders, chairman Jac Nasser said: "We believe this decision to replace the earlier proposed tax with a better designed tax proposal is encouraging for the resources industry," but added "there is still a great deal of detailed work to be done before this tax is enacted and its impact is certain."In the banking sector Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) lead the way. BP is also posting strong gains. It has denied looking to raise new money from sovereign wealth funds, but is just highlighting its strengths to potential investors. Royal Bank of Scotland appears to be convinced as it has upgraded the stock from "hold" to "buy" on the grounds that the worst case scenario for the Gulf og Mexico oil spill liability is already priced in.Tullow Oil has had a "very good" first half during which production came in on target and revenue increased about 13% to almost half a billion dollars. It's expected to be between 56,000 and 57,000 boepd for all of 2010. Housebuilder Persimmon said private sale reservations have softened around the time of the new government's budget proposals, though sales prices and margins have continued to increase. "Since early May we have experienced the normal seasonal slow down in private sale reservations. We believe this was also due partly to the uncertainty created prior to the announcement of the new government's budget proposals. In the short period since the budget, sales have been in line with our expectations," the group said. Turnover for the six months to 30 June was up by 26% at around £785m. Pub group Punch Taverns said market conditions remain challenging given the relatively weak UK consumer environment, though trading during the World Cup has been good with like for like sales growth over this period.Steam trap and pump specialist Spirax-Sarco has enjoyed a strong first half with sales and margins both rising sharply. Contractor and infrastructure group Balfour Beatty's trading this year remain on track despite mixed performances in its operations. "There remain uncertainties in some parts of our markets, particularly with regard to government funding of infrastructure investment. However, in other markets prospects remain robust. Overall, we remain confident about the outlook for the group," Balfour said.The number of passengers flying with low cost airline easyJet jumped over 9% in June to more than 4.5m, helped in part by strike action at British Airways. Its orange liveried planes carried 4.54m people last month, up from 4.15m a year earlier, increasing the total for the last 12 months by 7% to 47.64m.The World Cup in South Africa has hit PartyGaming's poker business harder than expected, knocking quarter on quarter revenue by 2%, though trading since the end of April was in-line with expectations. Revenue, now published in euros, would have fallen between 6% and 7% quarter on quarter in dollar terms, in line with previous guidance.Internet and catalogue home shopping company N Brown posted weaker than expected sales figures and said trading since the general election has been subdued.Outsourced utility support services group Spice is still resisting the bid overtures of Cinven even though the European buy-out specialist has increased its indicative offer. The new conditional offer from Cinven is in the range of 62p to 65p per Spice share, up from its sighting shot of 56p announced last month. Schools IT equipment supplier RM Group said income from Building Schools for the Future (BSF) projects may be "scaled back significantly," following a review by the government on the programme.Peter Jones, one of the hard-nosed businessmen on TV show Dragon's Den, is reversing two of his companies into smartphone retailer eXpansys. The AIM-listed company will pay £38m for SIM card seller Data Select Network Solutions (DSNS) and web design and online marketing firm PJ Media, funded by a £30m placing priced at 5.6p a share.Shanta Gold has completed its feasibility study on the Chunya gold project in the Lupa goldfield in southern Tanzania and the market did not much like the results. Construction is estimated to take one year at a capital cost estimated at $23.2m with payback in two years.A better reception was given to AIM-listed mining tiddler Tertiary Minerals' announcement of the completion of an independent scoping study on its wholly owned Storuman Fluorspar project in Sweden. Net pre-tax operating cash flow of $17m per annum is predicted in the first five years of production with a 2.8 year payback of capital, pre-production strip, and further feasibility costs, the company said.NetDimensions, the provider of performance, knowledge and learning management systems, said revenue in the first half of 2010 rose by 11%, in line with market expectations, to $3.38m from $3.05m in the first half of 2009.