London afternoon: Stocks still in the red

London's top stocks are still in the red, with a lower start on Wall Street adding to the earlier pressures. Indian refiner and miner Vedanta leads the mining sector lower after saying it is to raise $1bn through an issue of convertible bonds, though major shareholder Volcan has declined to take part in the issue. Vedanta added that priority will be given to its other existing shareholders. Fellow miners Antofagasta, and Fresnillo are also lower as metals prices slip.Barclays is also a major faller after it sold its fund management arm, Barclays Global Investors, to US asset manager BlackRock for £8.1bn ($13.5bn). BlackRock will pay $6.6bn in cash and the rest in shares for the unit which includes the iShares business, which Barclays had previously agreed to sell to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners in April for $4.4bn.Brokers are trying their best to keep the markets up. BT is higher after Merrill Lynch said the shares are now low enough to be worth buying. The 6.7% drop in like-for-like sales in the first four months of 2009 announced by advertising and marketing giant WPP last week has not deterred Goldman Sachs from adding the stock its conviction buy list.Shareholders at private equity group 3i have taken up 96.5% of the shares offered to them as part of the company's £700m rights issue.Building materials supplier Travis Perkins said it has received 92.7% take-up for its fully underwritten 7 for 10 rights issue to raise £314m gross and £300m net.Regal Petroleum is raising about $100m (£60.4m) via a placing with new and existing institutional shareholders to fund development of its gas and condensate fields in Ukraine. Cape, which provides support services to the energy and natural resources sectors, has won a clutch of contracts in Qatar worth $37m in aggregate. South African metal recycler SA Metals has recommended its shareholders approve a takeover offer from platinum producer Sylvania Resources. Acquisitions and strong organic growth were responsible for record results at AEC Education in 2008, the Asia focused teaching group said. Profit before tax was up to £794,473 from £298,155 in 2007 on revenue up 123% to £6.2m.