London afternoon: Lloyds up as Daniels names exit date

Stocks gave up a proportion of their gains over the lunch time session despite expectations of a firm start on Wall Street.Part-nationalised banking giant Lloyds Banking is holding up well after it was announced that chief executive Eric Daniels is to retire in a year's time. The move was not unexpected given Daniels's key role in the thus-far disastrous acquisition of HBOS. Lloyds last month announced a £1.6bn profit for the first half of 2010, twice as much as some analysts had forecast, providing some vindication to Daniels's assertion that the acquisition of HBOS was an opportunity that had to be grabbed. There is a sense of relief is evident in the rise of BP's share price after the US coast guard signalled that the oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico has been permanently sealed. US authorities described the leak from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico as "effectively dead". Insurer Brit Insurance is wanted after Friday's late announcement that the consortium headed by US private equity firm Apollo has upped its bid offer to £10.75 per share. Bid talk is also propelling price comparison web site operator Moneysupermarket.com higher. US media mogul Barry Diller is said to be considering adding the company to his portfolio.BAE Systems has strengthened its position in the US counter-terrorism market with the acquisition of the consultancy division of American firm L-1 Identity Solutions. The UK weapons group will pay $296m in cash for the L-1 division, which comprises three firms SpecTal, Advanced Concepts and McClendon. Global banking titan HSBC is to sell its wholesale banknotes business in Asia to United Overseas Bank (UOB). UOB is paying $15m in cash for the assets, with the transfer expected to take place in the final quarter of 2010.WPP has beefed up its Asian business will the acquisition of a 51% stake in Singapore-based Comwerks, a full service digital agency with a big list of government and public sector clients. Comwerks Interactive, only eight years old, specializes in digital media and web 2.0 solutions. Salamander Energy, the oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Asia, said the rig to be used on its Bontang PSC asset in Indonesia should arrive in the drilling area in the first week of October. Another oil and gas company, Sterling Energy, has seen its share price slump after mixed results with its latest exploration well drill tests in Kurdistan.Wind turbine blade maker Clipper Windpower also dived as it warned the credit crisis has impacted the availability of financing for its projects. Net loss for the six months ended 30 June 2010 is expected to be in the range of $26 to $30m compared to a net loss of $120.2m for the same time a year earlier. Motive Television has raised the £4.75m in needs to buy Adecq Digital, the digital terrestrial television technology company confirmed Monday.ViaLogy, a developer of sensor network technology used in the oil and gas industry , saw revenue in the year to 31 March 2010 grow to $0.15m from $0.13m the year before, but with losses holding steady at £6.2m the company is keen to add some blue-chip clients to its customer base. Bid target Silence Therapeutics said 2010 has been a pivotal year with the company making advances in the three areas it sees as the most important in the coming years: partnerships, intellectual property and clinical progress.Discovery Metals, the Botswana-focused miner, has lived up to its name, having unearthed two new exploration targets southwest of its Boseto Copper Project.