London close: Battering for miners and banks

It was downhill almost all the way for Footsie in the afternoon session after the US opened sharply lower, with miners getting a real bashing on the prospect of a slow-down in the Chinese economy.No less an authority than star fund manager Anthony Bolton raised the prospect today, in the first set of results from his Fidelity China Special Situations fund, of China's economic growth slowing to "7-8% from its current double digit level", though he drily noted that "relative to growth of around 2% in much of the world, this will look pretty interesting."Shareholders in miners such as Antofagasta, Kazakhymys, Fresnillo and Xstrata, all of which lost 5% or more, might disagree with that assessment, as might holders of mid-cap miners Hochschild, Aquarius and Petropavlovsk . Meanwhile Ireland's reluctance to seek a bail-out continues to make the market nervous about banks. Lloyds was today's big faller, with Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland suffering almost as badly. It was another hefty day for company results and the best of a large bunch came from Rexam. The packaging group is trading on track in both beverage cans and plastics, with cost savings coming through as planned and capacity being added in South America.Profits soared at luxury fashion label Burberry in the six months to 30 September as sales of non-clothing items such as handbags jumped and the company extended its reach in emerging markets such as China and Brazil. Adjusted revenues (stripping out Burberry's discontinued Spanish business) were up by 21% from the same period the previous year to £641m. Adjusted pre-tax profits soared by 49% to £129m.Big employers looking for swanky new offices in central London have pushed occupancy rates at real estate giant British Land higher during the first half and net asset value is up over 4%. Panmure Gordon reiterated its "buy" recommendation after a "very predictable" yet "positive" set of results, but the market was possibly expecting more and has marked the shares down.Chip designer Arm was a strong performer after a stunning set of results from German chip group Infineon, where fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose to €390m from €11m last year as revenue soared 55% to €942m.Taylor Wimpey has been busy. The housebuilder is fully sold for 2010 and expects full-year profit to be at the top end of expectations, it's got a news finance director and has agreed a revised £950m credit facility with its banks. The group has performed well in the UK and trading is stable despite the economic uncertainty, in line with forecasts since the interim results at the beginning of August.The squeeze on public sector spending has already affected telecoms group Cable & Wireless Worldwide, with revenues down by 1.6% in the last six months. Turnover came in at £1.12bn, against £1.14bn, in the half-year to September, though the largely-UK focused telecoms group, which demerged from Cable & Wireless Communications in March, lifted pre-tax profits from £22m to £53m. Underlying operating profits rose by 4.4% to £214m.Internet services group TalkTalk reported a 12.4% increase in half year revenue as it reiterated its full year guidance of 6-8% revenue growth. The UK's second biggest broadband company said pre-tax profit increased to £70m for the 6 months to 30 September 2010 compared to £68m the same time a year before.A strong recovery in advertising helped bring about a sharp rise in revenues at broadcaster ITV in the third quarter, though growth in ad sales are seen slowing in the fourth quarter. Group revenues climbed by 11% from the same period last year to £1.456bn, with advertising revenues climbing by 16%. Ad revenues are currently forecast to be up by 10% in the fourth quarter. No-frills airline easyJet said full year profit surged nearly threefold on rising consumer demand and cheaper fuel. The group also announced it would pay its first dividend in 2012.Shareholders in pubs groups Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns might be forgiven for heading out for a stiff drink tonight as both shares got hammered.Enterprise Inns slipped back into the red last year but says its trading steadied sufficiently in the last six months that a dividend is a possibility in the future. At least one broker was optimistically suggesting the divi could be restored with the current set of results. The debt-laden group, which owns over 6,800 pubs, posted a pre-tax loss of £31m in the year to September, against an £11m profit last time. Net debt at the year-end was £3.3bn compared to £3.7bn at the beginning of the financial year.Punch, meanwhile, is to part company with its finance director, Phil Dutton. He will step down from the board next month and leave the group in March.Sales have continued rising and margins have been maintained since JD Sports Fashion's last update in September, the trendy sportswear retailer said today.Sportingbet's time as a bid stock was brief after Swedish online gaming group pulled out of talks with its UK counterpart. Having shot up yesterday as news of the talks leaked out, the shares are almost back down to where they were at the end of last week. Premier Oil, yesterday's hot stock on talk the Koreans are lining up a bid, is on course to meet full-year production targets, though bad weather has held up further exploration in the potentially lucrative North Sea Catcher field.Another bid stock in the oil sector, oil field services provider Wellstream, continues to trade in line with expectations, although there's no more news on any takeover.Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com said trading in the first few weeks of the fourth quarter has been strong with revenues still more than 10% ahead of the same period last year.Fashion retailer French Connection has seen sales from its own stores fall slightly short of expectations in the 15 weeks to 13 November, but this has been offset by further growth in sales of its clothes to other stores.Shares in Vectura moved higher after the respiratory inhaler developer announced higher revenues, sharply narrower losses and positive data from a Phase II clinical study of a treatment for Parkinson's disease.Matra Petroleum reports the drill rig it was hoping would start work on its A-12 well has been diverted to a TNK-BP operation within Orenburg Oblast and is now expected to be available to begin the side-track programme towards the end of November. The exact date will depend on the completion of TNK-BP's operations.FTSE 100 - RisersRexam (REX) 318.20p +2.32%Capita Group (CPI) 735.00p +0.48%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,028.00p +0.40%Amec (AMEC) 1,116.00p +0.36%ARM Holdings (ARM) 352.30p +0.20%Inmarsat (ISAT) 672.50p +0.07%FTSE 100 - FallersFresnillo (FRES) 1,361.00p -6.33%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,421.00p -6.14%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,359.00p -5.49%Xstrata (XTA) 1,311.50p -5.10%Invensys (ISYS) 330.40p -5.03%Anglo American (AAL) 2,886.50p -4.92%Aggreko (AGK) 1,502.00p -4.88%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,120.00p -4.84%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 66.60p -4.68%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 919.50p -4.67%FTSE 250 - RisersTalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 153.00p +6.18%Homeserve (HSV) 429.60p +3.82%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,470.00p +3.59%Supergroup (SGP) 1,450.00p +3.50%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 255.50p +2.94%Cranswick (CWK) 845.50p +2.48%Mitie Group (MTO) 200.00p +2.25%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,350.00p +2.17%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 525.00p +1.94%Hansen Transmissions International NV (DI) (HSN) 52.20p +1.75%FTSE 250 - FallersPunch Taverns (PUB) 61.10p -10.28%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 99.30p -9.40%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 361.00p -8.10%Yell Group (YELL) 10.34p -7.43%Petropavlovsk (POG) 998.00p -6.90%Elementis (ELM) 107.40p -6.20%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 354.20p -5.85%Ashtead Group (AHT) 126.20p -5.82%Sportingbet (SBT) 59.70p -5.69%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 547.50p -5.68%