London afternoon: Vedanta leads miners lower

Mining stocks remain a proverbial albatross round the market's neck, dragging the Footsie below last night's closing level despite some interest in consumer stocks.Vedanta Resources is the weakest stock in a soft mining sector after Goldman Sachs said Vedanta's aluminium, zinc and iron ore facilities were lower than Goldman had expected.Lower industrial metals prices also drag down Antofagasta, ENRC and Anglo American, while gold's pull back from its recent all time high dents the appeal of gold miner Randgold Resources. Whitbread is a strong performer ahead of its trading update next week. The hotels and coffee bars group has been buoyed by better than expected results from US rival Marriott Hotels announced yesterday. Barclays Capital has adjusted its rating on Whitbread and now recommends its clients be overweight in the stock; the broker's previous recommendation was for an underweight position.Fellow hotel group InterContinental also draws comfort from Marriott's pleasant earnings surprise. An upbeat trading update from retailer John Lewis, which said trading for the week to last Saturday was 'excellent', has given retailers such as Kingfisher and Next a lift.Software firm Autonomy is seeing profit taking after its recent good run. Broker Piper Jaffray has turned 'neutral' on the stock, having previously been a buyer.Troubled sportswear retailer JJB Sports has confirmed reports it is to raise £100m through an equity issue. In a brief statement, JJB said its board has reviewed a range of options to provide additional capital for the group and confirms that it is finalising arrangements for an equity issue to raise £100m.Oilfield services company Wood Group believes its 2009 performance will be in line with expectations and said it remains confident in the medium and longer term fundamentals for the business. However, the group warned that activity and margins at its development related engineering activities will continue to be impacted amid delays both in the pace at which projects are being progressed and in further awards. UK Coal's £100m fundraising has been well-supported, with 93.2% of the shareholders eligible for the open offer taking up their new shares. The company made 86.49m shares available under the 11 for 20 open offer at 75p each. The unwanted shares have also been snapped up, giving the group the £64.9m it was after.Intellectual property group RWS Holdings said underlying full-year profits will exceed 2007/08 levels but fall 'modestly' below consensus. As a result of significantly lower deposit rates, particularly compared to the second half last year, interest income will fall well short of initial budgets.Shares in Songbird, the property company that owns Canary Wharf, fell by 10% after it said it had received 60% acceptances for its share issue to raise £1.03bn.Recruitment group Robert Walters saw net fee income slump by 29% in the third quarter but reports some improvements, especially in banking and in Asia, though visibility overall remains limited.Intellectual property group RWS Holdings encounters selling pressure after it said underlying full-year profits will exceed 2007/08 levels but fall 'modestly' below consensus.