London afternoon: Fire sale at BP continues

After yesterday's dramatic rise London is taking a pause for breath today and either digesting the steady stream of big company results already out this week or preparing for results from the giants of the insurance and banking sectors later this week.Insurance colossus Aviva , scheduled to release interim figures on Thursday, is moderately firmer today after announcing an exclusive five year agreement with Santander for the distribution of Aviva's life protection insurance products in the UK from June 2011.Specialist banking group Investec has raised £104.5m through a placing of 22m shares at 475p each. The placing increases the share capital of Investec, which is engaged in investment and private banking, property investment, asset management and capital markets, by 4.27%. Not surprisingly, the shares head south down towards the 475p placing price level.In the retail banking sector analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) have been cooling on the shares of rival HSBC after HSBC's results yesterday. RBS has cut its rating on the shares from "buy" to "hold". Continuing the banking merry-go-round, Goldman Sachs has issued a note that features part-nationalised lenders Lloyds Banking and RBS on its conviction buy list.Anglo-Swiss mining leviathan Xstrata saw profits soar in the first half as the company remained on track to hit its production volumes and cost cutting targets. Revenue in the first half of 2010 rose 43% to $13,608m from $9,541m in the first half of 2009. Attributable profit soared 153% to $2,299m from $909m, as demand from China grew rapidly and the US economy continued its recovery.Sticking with the miners, Rio Tinto said it will invest a further $790m in its drive to expand the annual capacity of iron ore operations in the Pilbara to 330 million tonnes. This brings total investment funds approved in recent weeks to $1bn.While Rio is splashing the cash, under-fire oil company BP is intent on raising more readies. It has agreed to sell its oil and gas assets in Colombia for $1.9bn, as the oil giant continues its programme of asset sales in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.New ITV chief executive Adam Crozier has unveiled a five-year transformation plan for the embattled TV broadcaster involving a move in to Pay-TV to halve its dependence on advertising. Crozier also revealed a sharp upturn in ITV's financial fortunes over the past six months. Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey has jumped higher after it crept back into profit in the first half of 2010. The Anglo-US group posted a pre-tax profit of £19.6m in the six months to June against a loss of £673m last time. Underlying profits rose to £79m from £2.8m, while sales rose to £1.23bn from £1.13bn. Sector peers Bovis, Persimmon, Bellway and Barratt Developments rise in sympathy.Online gaming firm 888 Holdings is glad to see the back of the FIFA World Cup as trading during July returned to historical seasonal patterns. Total operating income in the second quarter of 2010 was much the same level as the year before at $61m, but was down on the $69m of revenue in the first quarter of 2010.It's been a busy morning for investment analysts covering the engineering sector with many of the big names releasing figures.Valve actuator and control systems designer Rotork notched up record half year sales and profits in the first six months of 2010 as market conditions improved. However, management remains cautious with regard to currency movements, commodity price increases and the resulting impact these may have on the competitive landscape. GKN, the engineer that serves the automotive, aerospace and off-highway markets, moved up another gear in the first half of 2010. Sales in the six months ended 30 June 2010 improved to £2.54bn from £2.06bn in the first half of 2009.Engineering group Weir said it expects profit for the second half to be "significantly ahead" as it reported a 24% jump in order input in the first half. Order input, in constant currency, rose to £863m in the 26 weeks ended 2 July from £694m last time. Meggitt, the engineer focused on aerospace, defence and energy markets, saw revenue in the first half of 2010 fell 6% to £549.7m from £586.4m in the first half of 2009. Underlying earnings before interest , tax, depreciation and amortisation edged up to £171.0m from £169.5m the year before, while underlying profit before tax improved 3% to £116.2m from £112.3m. Coal-fired plant operator Drax announced a 23% increase in earnings but said it remains cautious in its outlook for the commodity markets in which it trades. Drax also said that development work to convert one of its units to burn biomass-only will now continue into 2011 before an investment case can be proven, citing regulatory uncertainty. The group was originally targeting the end of 2010 to prove the investment case for the plant.EnQuest, the North Sea oil group spun out of Petrofac, has made its first acquisition with an agreed all share deal for Aim-listed Canadian group Stratic Energy.Shares in AIM-listed Independent Resources took a tumble on Tuesday morning after a disappointing drilling outcome. The Oryx-1 exploration well, on the Ksar Hadada Permit in Tunisia, has been plugged and abandoned after log analysis indicated there was no significant oil saturation in the reservoirs.FTSE 100 - RisersCentrica (CNA) 316.70p +2.19%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,895.50p +1.83%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,478.00p +1.65%Man Group (EMG) 226.10p +1.25%Prudential (PRU) 573.50p +1.24%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,214.50p +1.21%TUI Travel (TT.) 218.10p +1.21%Bunzl (BNZL) 700.00p +1.01%Lonmin (LMI) 1,648.00p +0.98%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,068.00p +0.95%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 313.40p -5.60%Investec (INVP) 476.10p -5.44%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 339.30p -2.33%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 573.00p -2.30%Hammerson (HMSO) 389.70p -2.26%Old Mutual (OML) 122.40p -2.16%Capita Group (CPI) 717.00p -2.12%Essar Energy (ESSR) 426.00p -2.09%SEGRO (SGRO) 278.80p -2.04%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 89.60p -1.81%