London afternoon: Miners prop up Footsie

The Footsie has been in retreat since shortly after ten this morning and dipped back into the red over the lunchtime session before limping back into positive territory, helped by the strength of mining stocks.The Footsie's performance largely mirrors that of the share price of oil giant BP, which got off to a flying start after some better news from the Gulf of Mexico.The massive clean-up operation in the Gulf of Mexico continues and has now cost BP $2.65bn (£1.75bn). The oil giant is stopping almost 23,000 barrels of oil from leaking into the sea while reports at the weekend said the relief well to cap the leak completely could be in place earlier than expected.Reports that tropical storm Alex looks set to avoid the oil spill area also boosted sentiment towards the beleaguered UK oil giant, though rumours circulating in the City that chief executive Tony Hayward has tendered his resignation saw support for the shares wilt. Premier Oil has also boosted the oil sector. Premier has had a successful drilling result at its 35% owned Catcher East 28/9 licence in the UK Central North Sea. The estimated find of 300m recoverable barrels is the biggest in the North Sea for years and could be worth over £7bn. Partners Encore and Nautical rocketed on the back of the news. Standard Chartered's comment that income in the first six months is expected to be on a par with the same period of last year has knocked its share price. A bullish note from Nomura is boosting Lloyds Banking, which the broker has named as its preferred stock in the sector. It keeps its reduce recommendation on Royal Bank of Scotland though the price target has been hiked to 41p from 31p. Barclays is cut to "neutral" with the price target slashed to 300p from 425p on concerns that the valuation "is likely to remain capped by the business mix and associated regulatory risk." Among the Far Eastern banks Nomura prefers Standard Chartered, which it rates a "buy", to HSBC, which is has downgraded to "neutral". HSBC's price target has been cut to 725p from 800p.In a buoyant mining sector Kazakhmys has received a fillip from positive comment from Citigroup while FTSE 100 new entrant Essar Energy is wanted after JPMorgan Cazenove initiated coverage with an "overweight" rating.Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey reports stable conditions in UK and US housing over the past six months but is still wary over prospects in both markets. "In the short term, with ongoing political and economic uncertainty, we continue to run the business on a cautious basis, with selective land investment and an ongoing focus on costs and cash," Taylor said.Telecoms giant BT is to add Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 to its BT Vision subscription TV service. BT Vision customers will be able to view Sky Sports 1 and Sky Sports 2 from August 1 after the company inked a deal with British Sky Broadcasting. Pricing packages have not yet been revealed. Defence contractor Cobham has won a microwave modules contract from US company Raytheon Missile Systems. The contract is for $17.4m and has been awarded to Cobham's Sensor Systems business. The microwave modules are used in ground to ground or air to ground missile applications.Social housing group Mears reiterated it is continuing to deliver strong trading across all divisions and is not experiencing any downward pressure on spend in its social housing business. Today's announcement followed a brief statement made after the closed on Friday saying it has not experienced the same problems as Connaught.On Friday, Connaught lowered its estimates for this year and next year because of the emergency budget. The shares have slumped again today as brokers rush out revised profit forecasts; Collins Stewart, Investec and Panmure Gordon have all advised their clients to ditch the shares. Online gaming company PartyGaming has been awarded licences by the French gaming regulator, ARJEL, to run online poker and sports betting web sites for French residents. The group can offer sports betting immediately but will have to wait a short while before the French poker market is opened. The regulator is expected to give clearance for poker offerings later this month.Senior, the manufacturer of high technology components and systems, is trading in line with expectations with profits for the first half of 2010 expected to be well ahead of last year.Shares in Scott Wilson soared on the possibility of a bidding war between two US firms for the design and engineering consultancy. URS has announced a cash bid of 210p per share which Scott Wilson's board accepted, only for CH2M Hill to announce it was also considering launching a bid.