London midday: BP slows Footsie's climb

Barely a dozen of the FTSE 100's constituents finished the morning in the red but the blue-chip index's advance was less than convincing, largely due BP being on the end of another battering.The oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has now cost BP £1.1bn ($1.6bn) and the pressure on the oil giant is likely to intensify over the next few days as Barack Obama prepares to the American people to prepare them for the worst.Over 51,000 claims have been submitted since the MC252 oil well blew up in the Gulf of Mexico in April, and more than 26,500 payments have been made, totalling over $62m (£42m).There is also speculation that the company could be stripped of control of its US oil and natural gas wells and shut out of federal government contracts.Elsewhere in the resource sector mining companies are enjoying a lift from stronger metals prices. Fresnillo, Kazakhmys, ENRC and Vedanta lead the sector higher.Life insurer Resolution has suspended its shares this morning after confirming it is in discussions to buy AXA's UK life assurance businesses for £2.75bn. The businesses to be acquired are AXA's UK protection and annuities arms and also its group pensions business. A £2bn rights issue will help pay. Most of National Grid's shareholders, 94.2%, have taken up their rights as part of the gas and electricity supplier's £3.2bn cash call announced last month.Utility giant United Utilities (UU) is to offload its principal non-regulated water interests in the United Kingdom and Europe to Veolia Water UK. Veolia is paying £174.2m for the assets, of which £108.6m is cash. Shares in Weir Group have jumped after a strong trading statement and some acquisition activity from the engineer. Weir said trading for the nine weeks to 4 June has been stronger than expected and confirmed it will acquire Kuala Lumpur based Linatex for £138m as it expands its global reach. Linatex, which provides wear-resistant products to the mining and sand industries, fits into its strategy of growing its global capability, Weir said.In other acquisition activity, Dana Petroleum has made a major expansion of its North Sea interests with the purchase of Petro Canada's Dutch arm for €328m. Petro Canada Netherlands (PCN) operates in the in the Dutch sector of the North Sea. It brings an additional 31m barrels of oil equivalent of proved and probable ("2P") reserves and 51m of possible reserves.Petrofac, the international oil and gas facilities service provider, has bought TNEI Services, a specialist consultancy supporting the energy, power and renewables sectors. Petrofac is paying £7.5m for TNEI, of which 30% is contingent upon senior management's continued participation in the business. TNEI has some 50 staff in Newcastle and Manchester and provides services in the areas of power transmission and distribution, planning and environmental consent and energy management.Support services firm Carillion has been awarded a 10-year framework contract to provide facilities management services at Heathrow Airport.Wine retailer Majestic Wine said full year pre-tax profit more than doubled, helped by its takeover of Lay & Wheeler and changes to its minimum purchase rules. For the 52 weeks ended 29 March 2010 pre-tax profit increased to £16.0m from £7.4m the same time a year earlier. Total sales rose to £233.2m from £201.8m before. The figure includes a £12.4m contribution from Lay & Wheeler which it bought in March 2009.SuperGroup, owner of the fast growing Superdry fashion label, has signed a franchise agreement with Al Khayyat Investments to open 13 Superdry stores across the United Arab Emirates. Cinema chain Cineworld is to go fully digital across its estate in the UK and Ireland. The company has entered into an agreement with Arts Alliance Media (AAM), a leading European provider of digital cinema technology and distribution services, to complete the roll-out of digital projection facilities.Sheffield based oil and gas equipment supplier Pressure Technologies saw its half year profit decline and its order book shrink but the company said it is on track to meet full year expectations.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,058.00p +4.86%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,174.00p +3.53%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,102.00p +3.28%Whitbread (WTB) 1,447.00p +3.28%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,056.00p +2.72%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,274.00p +2.71%British Airways (BAY) 204.40p +2.66%ARM Holdings (ARM) 296.40p +2.42%Old Mutual (OML) 111.30p +2.39%Barclays (BARC) 297.75p +2.37%FTSE 100 - FallersBP (BP.) 369.10p -5.82%Home Retail Group (HOME) 230.40p -1.41%BG Group (BG.) 1,090.00p -0.73%Man Group (EMG) 244.70p -0.69%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 260.10p -0.61%Sage Group (SGE) 240.90p -0.45%Compass Group (CPG) 561.50p -0.27%BAE Systems (BA.) 320.40p -0.25%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,369.00p -0.22%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 121.60p -0.08%