London midday: Footsie still stuck lower

Footsie remains a few points in the red despite some gains on the back of company updates.Inter dealer-broker ICAP is up despite interim profits falling as it added that trading activity had picked up in September.Telephone giant Cable & Wireless is top of the pile on news it is to demerge into two separately listed companies by next March, and will raise £200m through a convertible bond issue to help fund the split.A drop in metal prices and profit taking hurt miners. Lonmin, Rio Tinto and Xstrata feature among the heaviest fallers. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said last night that the Fed is monitoring currency markets "closely" and will conduct policy in a way that will "help ensure that the dollar is strong". Product quality and safety tester Intertek is struggling. It says the rate of organic revenue growth is slowing, as expected, in the second half of the year. Total year on year revenue growth for the January to October (inclusive) period was 28%, or 8% using constant exchange rates (CER). Organic revenue growth at CER was 4%.The retail side of Burberry outperformed the wholesale side as the luxury fashion group reported a rise in half-year revenues, thanks to favourable exchange rates. Total sales were up 6% to £572.4m from £539.1m a year earlier, but with the favourable movements of exchange rates stripped out, were down 5%. Profit before tax slipped to £78.4m from £97m. Specialist business publisher Informa said in a trading update for the 10 months to 31 October that its publishing activities remain resilient and that its events business has not seen any worsening in trading.Tenanted pub group Enterprise Inns is the heaviest faller in the FTSE 250 after it posted a sharp fall in profits after a difficult year for the pub trade and said it expected profits to continue declining in the short term. Pre-tax profits for the year to September 30 fell to £208m from £263m on revenues that dropped to £811m from £880m.Real estate giant British Land reported continuing declines in rental income, pre-tax profits and its portfolio valuation in the six months to September 30, but said it was seeing more positive trends in recent months.Brighter news came from housebuilder Barratt, which has confirmed the improvement in the UK housing market and forecasts its prices will have risen by up to 10% over the year.In economic news, UK inflation increased for the first time in eight months in October following a rise in oil prices and a stronger pound.The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.2% last month, pretty much as expected, while the annual rate quickened to 1.5%, up from 1.1% in September, according to the Office for National Statistics.Bank of England Governor, Mervyn King, said last week that sterling weakness and stronger crude prices would cause inflation to spike in the coming months.FTSE 100 - RisersICAP (IAP) 441.10p +3.96%Cable & Wireless (CW.) 142.00p +2.68%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,116.00p +1.92%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 296.40p +1.47%Centrica (CNA) 251.20p +1.45%Schroders (SDR) 1,266.00p +1.44%Inmarsat (ISAT) 674.50p +1.43%BAE Systems (BA.) 329.10p +1.42%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,008.00p +1.31%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 3,105.00p +1.31%FTSE 100 - FallersResolution (RSL) 89.30p -3.98%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,267.00p -3.28%Lonmin (LMI) 1,687.00p -3.05%British Land Co (BLND) 490.40p -2.60%Barclays (BARC) 317.05p -2.15%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 85.60p -1.95%Man Group (EMG) 364.30p -1.86%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,244.00p -1.85%Old Mutual (OML) 116.10p -1.61%AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,712.50p -1.61%FTSE 250 - RisersArriva (ARI) 488.40p +6.52%Regus (RGU) 105.60p +5.18%Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 468.70p +3.01%Britvic (BVIC) 375.10p +2.82%Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,300.00p +2.60%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 326.90p +2.16%Robert Wiseman (RWD) 485.00p +2.11%Persimmon (PSN) 498.10p +1.94%Informa (INF) 331.80p +1.94%Charter International (CHTR) 769.00p +1.85%FTSE 250 - FallersEnterprise Inns (ETI) 122.30p -8.46%Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 501.50p -6.87%Avis Europe (AVE) 26.01p -6.71%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 405.90p -5.60%Bodycote (BOY) 187.90p -5.29%JPMorgan Japanese Inv Trust (JFJ) 138.10p -4.50%VT Group (VTG) 564.00p -4.24%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 228.50p -3.95%Lamprell (LAM) 215.70p -3.66%BTG (BGC) 167.50p -3.57%