London midday: Shares lack direction

Leading shares still lack direction with the constituents of the FTSE 100 virtually evenly divided between risers and fallers while the index itself is little changed.Part-nationalised bank Lloyds Banking Group is attracting plenty of comment after it confirmed it is in talks with the government about changes to the terms of it joining the asset protection scheme. Reports overnight suggested the FSA refused to allow it to pull out of the scheme altogether after a tough stress test. The shares were the second most heavily traded this morning but are only mildly easier.Kingfisher is in demand on bullish comments this morning after its figures yesterday. Nomura Securities has raised its price target for the stock to 220p following yesterday’s upbeat results. In contrast, Irish oil firm Tullow Oil runs into profit taking after yesterday’s strong advance.Real estate investment trust British Land is to put its Broadgate property assets in the City into a joint venture with private equity group Blackstone Group. The real estate funds Blackstone Real Estate Partners Europe III and Blackstone Real Estate Partners VI will take a 50% stake in Broadgate valued at £1.07bn.Weapons group Chemring said its outlook for 2009 remains in line with expectations as demand for its products from the US and UK armies staying strong. In the period from May 1 to date, revenues have totalled £143m compared with £102m over the same period the previous year.Fund manager BlueBay is down on news of a placing that will see a couple of directors cash in on a recent tripling in its share price. A secondary placing of 6.6m shares, or 3.4%, will take place today with Nick Williams, Chief Financial Officer, selling 1m shares and Alex Khein, Chief Operating Officer, disposing of up to 2m shares. The company is not raising any money. The fixed income group also revealed a big fall in annual profits though funds under management rose.Electricals retailer Kesa's finance director Simon Herrick has resigned in order to pursue other business interests, the group announced this morning. He will leave Kesa in the coming months, and a further announcement concerning his successor will be made in due course, the brief statement said.Another departure is Robert Noel at Great Portland Estates who will join the board of rival property group Land Securities as managing director of LandSecs’ London portfolio. Noel steps into the shoes of Mike Hussey, who quit Land Securities in June after the company abandoned plans to demerge parts of the business.Bar code and ‘best before’ date printing company Domino Printing is higher after it reported its order intake in the May to September period has picked up close to pre-credit crunch levels.System on chip developer Imaginations Technologies is expecting strong volume unit and royalty revenue growth for the current financial year. It’s digital audio broadcasting (DAB) division, Pure, has recovered from a tough trading period and saw like for like sales growth in the May to mid-September period, albeit against soft comparatives.Eastern Europe focused explorer JKX Oil & Gas announced details of a gas find in Hungary. Test drilling at the company’s Gorbehaza-1 exploration well in the Nyirseg licence located in Hungary's Pannonian Basin encountered two gas bearing zones, the company said.Strong sales in Australia helped Cassidy Brothers, which makes toy vacuum cleaners, cookers and other household items, shrug off a fall in UK sales to post higher profits in the year to April 30.FTSE 100 - RisersKingfisher (KGF) 211.80p +4.33%Next (NXT) 1,876.00p +3.25%Hammerson (HMSO) 439.20p +2.50%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,203.00p +2.21%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,562.00p +2.09%Pearson (PSON) 768.50p +1.86%FTSE 100 - FallersTullow Oil (TLW) 1,199.00p -3.69%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,441.00p -3.09%British Airways (BAY) 234.00p -2.46%Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,752.00p -2.31%Pennon Group (PNN) 493.70p -2.04%3i Group (III) 296.20p -1.99%