London close: Blue chips post useful gains

A better than expected start on Wall Street helped London post more gains by the close.Balfour Beatty was the best performer with the shares roaring ahead on plans to acquire Parsons Brinckerhoff, a US consultancy business. A rights issue to raise about £350m will fund the deal.Ian Tyler, Balfour Beatty chief executive, said: "We believe this will make us one of the world's major players in professional services. "It substantially strengthens our US presence and puts Balfour Beatty in an excellent position to take advantage of increased infrastructure." British Airways has been the blue-chip stock to own in the third quarter of 2009 with its share price virtually doubling since the beginning of July. The shares get another lift today from Goldman Sachs which has added the company to its 'conviction buy' list. Tullow Oil was another high flyer after announcing a big discovery for the second day in a row. Tullow said the discovery of a significant oil field at Ngassa, Uganda, has the potential to be the largest in the basin to date. The announcement comes the day after shares in Tullow Oil were boosted by the announcement of an oil discovery at the Venus exploration well off the West African coast.Miners, responsible for much of the Footsie's gain yesterday, are wanted again today with Antofagasta, Fresnillo and Vedanta among the top performers.A strong performance from B&Q helped DIY retailer Kingfisher post a sharp rise in pre-tax profits in the half year to August 1. Pre-tax profits for the period came in at £201m, compared with £146m over the same period the previous year as revenues climbed 7.3% to £5.5bn from £5.1bn. Retail sales overall were unchanged in August, surprising analysts who'd thought shoppers would increase spending on the high street despite rising unemployment. As well as the disappointing August numbers, the Office for National Statistics revised down July's 0.4% increase to just 0.2%. British Airways is not the only airline to benefit from broker comment; easyJet is boosted by Morgan Stanley raising its rating from 'equal weight' to 'overweight'.Emerald Energy, the oil explorer soon to be taken over by Chinese state-run oil company Sinochem Resources, said it continues to be pleased with the results achieved from its Colombian asset portfolio, 'with oil produced from a second horizon in the Mirto No.1 exploration well, the identification and commencement of an opportunity to enhance the production capability of the recently discovered Caballos oil reservoir in the Gigante No.2 well, and steady production from the producing fields.'Building and civil engineering contractor Kier Group reported annual pre-tax profit of £24.8m down from last year's figure of £63.4m but there are signs that its markets are improving.Eastern European coffee shop operator Coffeeheaven fell into losses in the year to March 31 as the global economic downturn wreaked havoc in some of its important markets.Cash and carry group Booker saw a slight deceleration in like for like sales growth in the 12 weeks to 11 September.Fashion group French Connection saw half year losses widen and said it plans to implement further measures to enhancing profitability over the next six months.Commercial lender Ultimate Finance rallied Thursday after tripling full-year profits and paying a maiden dividend. Pre-tax profit for the year ended 30 June 2009 leapt to £406,000 from £137,000 in 2008 on revenue up to £4.76m from £4.34m last time.FTSE 100 - RisersBalfour Beatty (BBY) 371.80p +8.08%British Airways (BAY) 239.60p +5.36%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,238.00p +4.30%Rexam (REX) 272.70p +3.18%Pennon Group (PNN) 504.00p +3.17%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 895.50p -2.29%Lonmin (LMI) 1,796.00p -1.91%ICAP (IAP) 427.40p -1.59%Sage Group (SGE) 223.90p -1.58%Invensys (ISYS) 302.20p -1.21%FTSE 250 - RisersMorgan Crucible (MGCR) 181.90p +9.58%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 162.00p +6.65%Dunelm (DNLM) 320.20p +6.17%SIG (SHI) 146.00p +5.64%Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) 439.50p +5.47%FTSE 250 - FallersEnterprise Inns (ETI) 147.10p -6.37%Domino Printing (DNO) 286.00p -4.67%Vectura Group (VEC) 91.15p -3.03%Sports Direct International (SPD) 105.00p -2.78%Rank Group (RNK) 79.75p -2.74%