London afternoon: Tesco hit by director pay rumblings

Hopes of Footsie making it eight days of gains in a row were revived over the lunch-time session as the blue-chip index moved back into positive territory.Mining stocks are having a major say in Footsie's direction, with precious metals miners Fresnillo and Randgold to the fore.BP is higher despite the eight-hour verbal assault for chief executive Tony Hayward from US politicians yesterday. Hayward was up in front of a US Congressional Committee to explain how the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe arose. He didn't, driving his already angry interrogators even more irate in the process. They accused the oil man of ignoring the risks his company was taking drilling a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico. Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has now joined in, expressing his concern that the penalties likely to hit BP could bankrupt the company. Russia is another major area of development for BP through its joint venture TNK-BP. BP shares have rallied even so.Spain's Santander has confirmed that it has entered a bid for about 300 high street branches being sold by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The banking giant didn't comment on any financial details, but market speculation earlier this week suggest a deal could be worth about £1.8bn. Elsewhere, Capita and Serco are weaker on news yesterday that the new government has put the brakes on £11.5bn of projects casting doubts on growth prospects for two of public sector's favourite outsource companies.BT is also lower on reports it faces a long-drawn out strike with its blue-collar workers.Supermarket giant Tesco has been in the doldrums ever since chief executive Sir Terry Leahy announced his intention to leave and there are more boardroom related concerns today, with reports suggesting that some institutional investors are unhappy with the remuneration packages of some directors. Pharmaceuticals behemoth Glaxo is under the weather after Germany's Federal Joint Committee recommended health insurers should stop paying for Glaxo's Avandia drug, which the Committee believes may increase the chances of heart disease. On the bright side insurer Aviva gets a lift from JPMorgan Chase, which has upgraded the stock to "overweight" and bumped up its price target from 285p to 509p.Engineering services group Lamprell has secured a $129m new contract from Seajacks for the design and construction of a Gusto MSC NG-5500 design self-elevating and self-propelled offshore wind turbine installation vessel. The vessel, named "Seajacks Zaratan", will be constructed at Lamprell's Hamriyah facility and is due to be delivered in 2012.Canary Wharf owner Songbird has shot ahead on a report that the The Qatar Investment Authority will spend £700m to mop up the 76% it does not already own. Fund manager Henderson has scrapped its planned acquisition of fund boutiques run by US asset manager RidgeWorth Capital Management after failing to agree terms with owner SunTrust Banks. The £1bn UK firm said discussions "have been discontinued as the parties have not reached agreement on terms".Blue-collar recruitment and training specialist Staffline now expects earnings for both the first half and full financial year to be significantly ahead of current expectations. The company upped its forecasts thanks to a number of new business wins and the impact of recent acquisitions together with increased demand from existing clients.Giant TV screen renter Avesco halved interim loses and expects to make a trading profit for the full year buoyed by orders for the World Cup and World Expo in Shanghai. Kazakhstan-focused oil explorer Roxi has firmed up its estimate of reserves at its main Galaz prospect. Estimates for total gross proved recoverable oil reserves on the NW Konys field are 2.4m barrels, total proved plus probable are 7.5m barrels while there are 10.9m barrels including possible reserves. British wireless communications technology firm Innovision Research & Technology has been snapped up by American giant Broadcom Corporation for £32m, almost twice its value yesterday evening. The AIM-listed company's shareholders will get 35p in cash for each Innovision share compared with a closing price of just 19p when the stock market closed on Thursday, an 84% premium.Music copyright group Conexion Media narrowed losses in the year to December 31 despite lower revenues. Pre-tax losses fell to £630,000 from £1.6m on revenues that were down to £3.4m from £4m. Shares in Condor Resources were soaring after the metals explorer was granted 45 square kilometres of land which it believes contains a goldfield.