London afternoon: Footsie dips

Leading shares lost ground over the lunchtime session, taking the Footsie back below the 6,000 level, with financials and miners featuring prominently among the losers.Miners such as Kazakhmys and Fresnillo are out of favour amid lower metals prices after China increased reserve requirements for banks in an attempt to curb inflation, while in the financial sector banks are nervous ahead of this afternoon's meeting of European finance ministers to discuss the European sovereign debt situation. Fund manager Schroders, meanwhile, is down in the dumps after UBS downgraded the stock to "neutral" from "buy". BP is in demand after the oil giant announced a controversial landmark deal with Rosneft, the Russian state oil company.As well as confirming the tie-up with Rosneft, BP said it has been awarded four deepwater blocks off the coast of south Australia. BP said that it will explore Exploration Permit for Petroleum (EPP) areas EPP 37, EPP 38, EPP 39 and EPP 40 covering an area of 24,000 square kilometres for oil and gas reserves, with the right to develop any commercially viable discoveries.It's the Rosneft deal, however, that has garnered most interest. The two companies have put in place a share-swap deal to cement an alliance that will see them jointly explore and develop three license blocks, EPNZ 1,2 & 3, on the Russian Arctic continental shelf.The alliance was welcomed by broker Panmure Gordon, which described it as " an exciting move for BP." "With this deal , BP will bring the expertise that it has developed in Alaska (US), the Beaufort Sea (Canada) and Northern Siberia (Russia). By getting into bed with Rosneft, the group is able to get access to this exciting new acreage and obtains first move advantage. With it becoming more difficult to operate in the US Gulf of Mexico, following the Macondo incident, the company has decided that it will look towards Russia to fuel its future growth," the broker said.Engineer Smiths Group has soared after it turned down a £2.45bn cash approach for its medical division, Smiths Medical."The board has carefully considered this approach with its advisers and has concluded that it would not be in the interests of shareholders to pursue discussions on the basis of an indication at this price level," it said in its statement. Smith & Nephew is also in demand on weekend reports that Johnson & Johnson is mulling a higher offer for the knee implants group.Rolls-Royce has won its biggest ever marine naval surface ship contract, sealing a deal to supply gas turbines and waterjets for ten of the US Navy's Littoral Combat Ships (LCS).Document and patent translation specialist SDL expects both revenue and profits for the year just ended to come in ahead of market forecasts.Coal miner UK Coal increased fourth quarter total production to 2.3m tonnes compared to 0.2m tonnes the same quarter a year earlier. Total production for the year ended 25 December 2010 rose to 7.2mt compared to 7mt the year before. "We are expecting a non-cash revaluation loss for the year, reflecting the market for the larger residential development sites in particular, of approximately £30m," it added.Stanley Gibbons will beat revenue forecasts for 2010 and reveal profits in line with expectations, the stamp and collectibles trader said Monday. The company has also continued to grow operating profit despite spending big money on developing its websites, database asset management system and international marketing campaigns. AIM-quoted engineer Avingtrans says that it will exceed expectations in the year to May 2011. That is due to a strong second half helped by an improvement in aerospace demand. Industrial markets have also strengthened more quickly than expected, particularly in Germany.Potash mining group Sirius Minerals has acquired York Potash and appointed its founder, former Citigroup man Chris Fraser, as managing director and chief executive officer of Sirius. York Potash is a private UK company that has signed various agreements with major landowners in relation to extensive mineral rights covering more than 600 square kilometres onshore and offshore between the towns of Whitby and Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England.Tungsten and molybdenum recycler Metal-Tech says that it may have to make substantial write-downs if its partner in the Mongolian joint venture Shim-Technology goes ahead with its plan to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against the joint venture.Property group Minerva is wanted after it revealed late on Friday that it is involved in preliminary takeover talks.