London afternoon: Stocks stuck in red

Bumper profits at US investment bank Goldman Sachs have failed to ignite fresh buying interest on Wall Street, leaving London weaker as resource plays struggle.Goldman Sachs pitched in with forecast-busting third quarter numbers, but that's not been enough to extend the Dow's gains above 10,000. The banking giant reported quarterly earnings per share of $5.25 versus the $4.24 predicted. Revenue of $12.37bn was much better than the $11.02bn expected.Meanwhile, losses of 27 cents a share at Citigroup were smaller than expected.Over here, miner Xstrata's decision to scrap plans to bid for Anglo American had its rival nursing big losses. The announcement came after a put-up or shut-up ruling following an appeal by Anglo to the Takeover Panel over the disruption to its business caused by the interest from Xstrata. But J Sainsbury capped the Footsie's deficit on talk that Qatari investors are looking to build on their current 26% stake. But it is no more than rumours so far.Price rises helped brewing giant SABMiller post results in line with expectations in the six months to September 30 despite sales of lager falling by 1% in volume terms as consumers remained cautious across its markets.In the FTSE 250, emerging markets manager Ashmore Group has risen more than 10% after it reported a strong investment performance in the quarter to September 30.Mothercare is unwanted even after it revealed a 7% rise in second quarter sales and issued a confident outlook for the remainder of the year. UK like-for-like sales during the thirteen weeks ended 10 October 2009 rose 3% while international retail sales during the period surged 23.2%.Newsagent chain WH Smith announced full year results that saw profit before tax climb by 8% despite a drop in sales. The group also announced that it is returning up to £35m of cash to shareholders through a rolling share buyback programme.Hovis to Branston Pickle maker Premier Foods said it remains confident of achieving full year pre-tax profits within the range of market expectations.Greetings card group International Greetings said first half trading was in line with market expectations and believes it can return to profit in 2009/10. Focusing on its 'F-plan' - food, families, females and forty/fifty-somethings - helped tenanted pub group and brewer Marston's post flat turnover in the six months to October 3 in spite of poor summer weather and fragile consumer confidence.Soft drinks company Britvic served up a 5.6% rise in full year revenue and believes it will deliver a strong set of results for the year ahead.Phytopharm is up again after yesterday's surge on better news on its possible Parkinson's Disease treatment Cogane. Oxford Biomedica also had good new on a possible Parkinson's treatment today.