London afternoon: Market cements morning's gains

London made further headway over the lunchtime session, boosted by expectations of a firm opening on Wall Street.There are contrasting fortunes for two stocks dependent on the health of the housing market, with Wolseley on the rise and Home Retail on the slide. Earlier today property research firm Hometrack said the cost of an average home in England and Wales was now £156,100 following the biggest monthly increase since June 2007. House prices are now just 5.6% lower than they were a year ago, down from 6.7% in August. That's the smallest decline since August 2008. Housebuilders such as Taylor Wimpey, Kier Group, Galiform and Bellway responded positively to the Hometrack data as did home maintenance specialist Homeserve.Builders' supplies specialist Wolseley is wanted after full-year results and a ratings upgrade from Deutsche Bank. The firm racked up losses of more than £1bn last year after a raft of one-off charges. Ongoing pre-tax losses came in at £766m in the year to July, against a profit of £399m, as the company took write-downs of £595m and restructuring costs of a further £464m. Profit before tax, exceptional items and amortisation and impairment of acquired intangibles reduced by 54% to £293m (2008: £631m), slightly above market forecasts. Homebase and Argo owner Home Retail is cold shouldered after Credit Suisse cut its recommendation from 'neutral' to 'underperform', citing the danger to Argos from Tesco Direct.Cash call rumours continue to swirl around the two part-nationalised banks Lloyds Banking and Royal Bank of Scotland while miners are easier despite some upbeat comments from Anglo American boss Cynthia Carroll, who said she is seeing indications of an upturn in demand for metals.Drugs company AstraZeneca is looking healthy after it won another round in its long-running fight against generic competition to bipolar treatment Seroquel. A US appeal court upheld its infringement claim against Sandoz and Teva Pharmaceutical over Seroquel tablets. Autonomy, the provider of infrastructure software for large companies, has entered into a multi-million dollar licence agreement with US drugs giant Pfizer, which will use Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer software.Kesa Electricals, owner of the Comet consumer electronics and white goods store, has appointed Dominic Platt, currently group financial controller at Cable & Wireless, as its new finance director. Platt will join the company as an executive director in early January 2010.Scottish and Southern Energy expects adjusted profit before tax for the six months ending 30 September to be significantly higher than the corresponding period in 2008, when it was exceptionally low. For the year as a whole, SSE expects to deliver a moderate increase in adjusted profit before tax; and an increase in the dividend per share of at least 4% more than inflation. The business to business arm of online gaming group 888 Holdings has signed an exclusive agreement with Tsogo Sun Gaming Group (TSG), one of the largest hotel and entertainment groups in South Africa. 888's Dragonfish unit will provide total gaming services for TSG's initial foray into online gaming through a joint venture to be set up in South Africa.Indonesian-focused coal miner Churchill Mining has confirmed three approaches over deals, including one full takeover offer, but has denied any of these involve mining giant BHP Billiton. Churchill, which put out the statement after a surge in its share price recently, said it had received three separate and unconnected non-binding approaches, all of which are at various stages.Taiwanese property company AMZ Holdings has received a major setback to its hopes of cashing in on its land in the Penghu Islands in Taiwan as local inhabitants said no to plans to allow licensed casinos to operate on the islands.Shares in Indian renewable energy group Greenko shot forward as it unveiled a $46m cash injection by US tech investor Global Environment Emerging Markets Fund III (GEF) at a 34% premium to the market price.Gold miner Aurum sparkled on news that Kentor Gold will pay $300,000 to extend for three months the option period it has to buy Aurum's stake in the Andash project in the Kyrgyz Republic and associated mining fleet.