London afternoon: Stocks come off the top

Footsie's assault on 6,000 has run out of steam and the blue-chip index is now barely holding on to gains.Mortgage lending fell to a 20-month low in November new figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) show, underlining the weakness the housing market is currently experiencing.Oil prices closed above $90 a barrel for the first time since October 2008 yesterday following a bigger than expected decline in US crude supplies last week. That's giving BP and Royal Dutch Shell a lift.ARM is giving back a little of yesterday's big gains. Miners have also dipped and HSBC is off colour on fears about further monetary tightening measures in China.Rio Tinto has increased its offer for Riversdale Mining to A$16 a share in cash, securing the backing of management for a deal worth A$3.9bn (£2.5bn). The mining giant admitted earlier this month it had talked to the Sydney-based firm, which has interests in African coal, about a A$15 a share takeover valuing the business at £2.2bn (A$3.5bn).Pharmaceuticals giants AstraZeneca and Abbott have dissolved their collaboration agreement covering the development of Certriad capsules. After the US FDA issued a Complete Response Letter for the Certriad new drug application the two companies decided that the resulting regulatory delay meant development of Certriad is no longer commercially attractive. Outsourcing giant Capita has announced two bolt-on acquisitions. It is buying hotel and meetings bookings firm BSI for £42.5m, and ICT services provider SunGard Public Sector Holdings for £86m.Train operator National Express has been given an early Christmas present in the form of a two-year extension on its c2c rail franchise. The decision by the Department for Transport (DfT) means the franchise will now run to 26 May 2013, although it has an option to terminate from 8 December 2012.Afren, the Africa-focused oil and gas company, said well tests on its Ebok field, located off the coast of Nigeria, have provided confirmation of phase one production expectations of more than 15,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). The shares ease back, however, as production work on the field has been delayed.