London close: Footsie takes small step back

The movements of the FTSE 100 index appeared to be directed by a lackadaisical Grand Old Duke of York today, and the blue-chip index finished (more or less) neither up nor down.British Airways was lower even though it swung to a profit in the first half as the airline improved yields and cut costs. It made a pre-tax profit of £158m in the six months ended 30 September compared a loss of £292m a year ago. Revenue jumped 8% to £4.45bn due to improved yields.WPP was also upbeat. The ad giant upped like-for-like revenues by 4.1% in the first nine months of its current year as companies restarted advertising spending after the recession with traditional ad spending outstripping online. Total revenue rose by 6.3% to £6.69bn with third quarter sales up 12.2% to £2.3bn. Operating margins also improved over last year. Numis Securities responded to the update by lifting its price target for the stock from 864p to 875p.Metal prices waned and as usual that meant mark-downs for the mining shares, though losses were pared by the close. Xstrata was the sector's worst performer after its subsidiary, Xstrata Zinc, said its A$274m ($246m) expansion of the George Fisher mine to grow the production rate by almost 30% from 2013 has been approved by the Queensland Government.Oil company BP received a lift from an official US commission report into the fatal explosion at the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico, which said that US oilfield services contractor Halliburton was culpable for the use of a sub-standard cement mixture on the well. The report did not absolve BP, as owner of the well, of all blame relating to the use of the cement, but the verdict suggests that BP alone will not be asked to carry the can for the Gulf of Mexico tragedy.AstraZeneca will receive a $100m upfront payment from Daiichi Sankyo after agreeing a deal for the co-promotion and supply of Nexium, a proton pump inhibitor, in Japan. The Anglo-Swedish drugs giant will co-promote the product, used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and stomach ulcers, once it is approved for use in Japan, making and developing the product, while Daiichi Sankyo will deal with distribution. Scottish and Southern Energy moved up, taking several sector peers with it, after it put its gas tariffs up by 9.4%, just a day before the clocks go back and nights get darker. The new prices kick in from the start of December and will affect 3.6m customers. Fund manager F&C Asset Management halted the recent outflow of funds in the past three months, but cautioned business may be weaker to the end of the year. Assets under management rose to £108.2bn from £95.3bn at the end of June. "While we are making good progress in our institutional business..., institutional asset flows remain lumpy from quarter to quarter. After a strong third quarter we currently anticipate weaker headline institutional asset flows in the fourth quarter," FCAM said.Hikma Pharmaceuticals has become the second largest injectables supplier in the US after agreeing to pay $112m (£70m) in cash for Baxter Healthcare's generic injectables business. Oil services group Hunting expects to exceed current full year market expectations after trading remained very strong between July and October.Shares in Eurasia Mining rose almost 16% after the group announced its exploration licence at West Kytlim in Russia has been extended for a further two years to December 2012.In contrast, Worthington fell nearly 14% after the property development group recorded a pre-tax loss of £162,000 for the six months ended 30 September, more than double the loss of £72,000 reported last year. FTSE 100 - RisersScottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,153.00p +3.41%Centrica (CNA) 332.20p +3.23%BG Group (BG.) 1,215.50p +2.10%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,395.00p +1.97%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,026.00p +1.96%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,998.50p +1.86%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,192.00p +1.71%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 545.50p +1.68%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.94p +1.53%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,558.00p +1.50%FTSE 100 - FallersBritish Airways (BAY) 270.70p -3.56%Xstrata (XTA) 1,209.50p -3.24%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,185.00p -2.39%ARM Holdings (ARM) 363.30p -2.34%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 549.00p -1.96%G4S (GFS) 261.70p -1.80%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,036.00p -1.69%Invensys (ISYS) 288.20p -1.67%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 649.10p -1.50%Barclays (BARC) 274.60p -1.40%FTSE 250 - RisersHunting (HTG) 644.50p +6.88%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 786.00p +6.72%CPP Group (CPP) 262.00p +4.80%Soco International (SIA) 313.60p +4.53%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 484.40p +4.17%BTG (BGC) 242.00p +3.33%Afren (AFR) 129.50p +3.19%FTSE 250 - FallersDevro (DVO) 225.00p -4.82%PartyGaming (PRTY) 251.90p -4.11%Cookson Group (CKSN) 515.00p -4.10%Senior (SNR) 132.40p -3.71%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,556.00p -3.55%Yell Group (YELL) 14.09p -3.43%Ocado Group (OCDO) 139.70p -3.32%