London close: Flat finish for Footsie

The day that was not without excitement, but shares were little changed overall amid uncertainty ahead of European banking stress tests due after the close.The best performing blue-chip was chip designer ARM Holdings . It was already higher, helped by strong results from US tech giant Microsoft overnight, and jumped later in the afternoon when it announced a new licensing agreement for its technology with Microsoft.Also in the afternoon, power systems developer Rolls-Royce said it secured $1.7bn in new orders during the Farnborough Air Show.Telecoms titan BT learned that industry watchdog Ofcom ruled out changes to the company's funding that would have allowed it to raise wholesale prices to help close the huge deficit in its pension fund.TUI Travel gave back some of the gains made early in the week as bid speculation fades, while a study by Co-op Travel suggesting travel companies are slashing prices to shift holiday packages will not have helped sentiment either. Mobile phone network operator Vodafone returned to organic revenue growth in the April to June quarter of 2010 for the first time since the near global recession. Group revenue increased by 4.8% to £11.3bn and group service revenue increased by 4.9% to £10.6bn. Water group United Utilities says current trading reflects lower prices for 2010/11, revenue pressures from reduced water volumes, bad debt and anticipated rise in property rates. However, the firm, which revealed a drop in full-year profits in May due to high borrowing costs, said these negatives are being partly offset by a drop in power costs.Among second-liners Dana Petroleum show ahead after the Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) confirmed it has submitted an indicative bid of 1800p cash per Dana share, an improvement on its original indicative offer of 1700p made on 17 June.Mergers and acquisitions activity is also driving the share price rise of property group St. Modwen, which owns the Elephant & Castle shopping centre in south London.The response to results from Britvic has been sour, even though the soft drinks giant saw revenue increase by 16.2% from a year earlier to £289.5m in its third quarter. The underlying GB, International and Irish businesses saw a combined revenue increase of 6.9%. Oil and gas exploration and production company Salamander Energy has plugged and abandoned its Tom Hum Xanh-1X exploration well, offshore southern Vietnam, but the shares have held up well. "This should not come as too great a shock to the market, as the first well it drilled in this basin also proved to be uncommercial," noted Panmure Gordon.Also in the oil sector, BP has temporarily suspended relief well activities at the MC252 well site in the Gulf of Mexico due to "potentially adverse weather" linked to Tropical Storm Bonnie.Close Brothers shares fell back. The merchant bank still thinks it will deliver a "solid" performance for the full-year, although funds under management eased in the last three months and it's making less per trade at its market making arm.Multi-millionaire property developer Christian Candy's has launched a mandatory offer to buy all the shares in Metals Exploration he doesn't own for 13p each.FTSE 100 - RisersARM Holdings (ARM) 352.90p +11.50%Wolseley (WOS) 1,442.00p +4.49%Cobham (COB) 247.60p +2.95%Rexam (REX) 346.70p +2.88%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,189.00p +2.50%Anglo American (AAL) 2,536.50p +2.38%Lonmin (LMI) 1,525.00p +2.01%Reed Elsevier (REL) 537.50p +1.99%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,698.00p +1.98%Xstrata (XTA) 1,035.00p +1.97%FTSE 100 - FallersTUI Travel (TT.) 222.30p -4.10%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 556.00p -2.46%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,146.50p -2.37%Kingfisher (KGF) 220.20p -2.26%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,469.00p -2.07%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,623.00p -1.58%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,185.00p -1.54%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 646.20p -1.34%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,677.00p -1.29%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 574.00p -1.20%FTSE 250 - RisersDana Petroleum (DNX) 1,710.00p +13.62%Homeserve (HSV) 2,374.00p +7.28%International Personal Finance (IPF) 221.70p +6.54%Hunting (HTG) 534.00p +5.74%John Wood Group (WG.) 370.40p +5.53%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 175.80p +5.21%Lamprell (LAM) 251.00p +4.80%Debenhams (DEB) 64.90p +4.68%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 64.80p +4.52%Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 493.10p +4.47%FTSE 250 - FallersSupergroup (SGP) 985.00p -3.53%Close Brothers Group (CBG) 687.00p -3.31%Britvic (BVIC) 505.00p -2.51%Genus (GNS) 722.00p -2.30%JPMorgan Emerging Markets Inv Trust (JMG) 509.00p -1.93%Connaught (CNT) 102.10p -1.83%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 580.00p -1.69%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 831.50p -1.60%JPMorgan Asian Inv Trust (JAI) 197.30p -1.60%BTG (BGC) 205.20p -1.58%