London afternoon: Blue chips perk up

Footsie has rallied as the afternoon session has progressed with miners making good gains on the back of better than expected US monthly jobs numbers.Vedanta is now the best performer, with silver miner Fresnillo, ENRC and Antofagasta all making good gains. Part-nationalised bank Royal Bank of Scotland is lower after it fell into the red in the third quarter. After restructuring costs, amortisation of intangibles and a £825m charge related to the Asset Protection Scheme (APS), the group recorded a loss before tax of £1.4bn, compared with a profit of £1.16bn in the second quarter and a loss of £2.1bn in the third quarter of 2009. HSBC, meanwhile, warned the pace of growth in emerging markets is slowing and recovery from recession may take longer than in previous downturns. "Our latest data from emerging markets points to a slowdown in the rate of recovery and the likelihood of some bumps in the road ahead," the banking giant said.Rolls-Royce is another faller after the engine explosion on an Qantas Airbus A380 yesterday. Qantas said that the problem was most probably caused by a faulty design its Rolls-Royce engines.Oil giant Shell has agreed to sell stakes in six Gulf of Mexico oil and gas fields for $450m (£280m) as it seeks to invest in 'more promising' growth opportunities. It is selling the Tahoe, Southeast Tahoe, Droshky, Marlin and Dorado fields and a Gulf of Mexico producing shelf property to W&T Energy for $450m.A good performance from its orthopaedics business helped wound care and artificial joint maker Smith & Nephew, one of today's big risers, over the past three months. Revenues in the quarter to September rose by 4% to $941m, compared to $915m in the same period last year. Pre-tax profits rose to $201m from $173m while trading profit in the quarter was $215m, representing underlying growth of 4%.Mobile phone retailer Carphone Warehouse is to start paying a dividend after raising its full year earnings forecast on the back of a strong performance from its US operations. It is raising its full-year earnings per share estimate to 13.5p to 14p from a previous range of 11.5p to 11.9p and said it intends to move to a regular dividend policy with a target of about 4.5p a share to be paid in August 2011. Sticking with telecommunications stocks, news that Cable & Wireless Communications' chief executive bought shares in the company the day it released disappointing results has sparked a recovery in the telecommunications company's share price.Pest control and parcel delivery group Rentokil has cut its forecast for cost savings this year after more losses and a deteriorating trading picture at its courier arm City Link. The services group kept its earnings guidance for the year unchanged, though, after a strong quarter for its rat catching division. Funeral home operator Dignity said its businesses continued to perform in line with expectations in the third quarter of 2010. The company saw a 5.8% increase in revenue to £145.2m for the first 39 weeks of the year from £137.3m in the corresponding period of 2009.Student accommodation outfit Unite Group said the package of recommendations in the Browne Review into the Future of Higher Education Funding was broadly in line with its expectations.Shares in Avocet jumped after it reported sharply higher production at its African and Asian mines in the third quarter. Total production of the yellow metal rose by 28% to 67,792 ounces, from 52,870 ounces in the previous quarter. Global Brands, the Switzerland-based Domino's Pizza master franchisee, says that October was a record month. Global Brands reports that like-for-like sales were 21% ahead of the same month last year. The revenue was CHF1.28m in October 2010. Like-for-like sales are 19% ahead in the first 10 months of 2010.