London midday: Shares seeking direction

Shares are still seeking direction after a slight recovery following a lower start in the morning.It has been a morning for asset sales with both telecoms giant Vodafone and oil colossus BP pressing on with their respective asset sale programmes. Vodafone's sale of what it considers non-core minority stakes continues with the sale of its 44% holding in French mobile phone group SFR to French media group Vivendi for €7.75bn (£6.8bn) in cash. The shares are higher.BP is to sell its wholly owned subsidiary ARCO Aluminium to a consortium of Japanese companies for $680m in cash.Elsewhere in the oil and gas sector BG Group has made a third gas discovery in Tanzania. The oil and gas group made the discovery about 18km off southern Tanzania at a depth of about 950 metres. The discovery is about 200km south of BG's previously announced Pweza and Chewa discoveries.FTSE 250 oil and gas company Premier Oil has exercised its option to drill the East Fyne appraisal well in the UK Central North Sea. Premier will have a 39.9% operated interest in block 21/28a, which contains the Fyne field, in return for stumping up to $50m towards the development costs, including the East Fyne appraisal well. Antrim Energy and First Oil Expro are the other stakeholders in block 21/28a. Aggreko has moved higher after the temporary power supplier said it is to help Japan keep its electricity supply up and running after last month's devastating earthquake. The Tokyo Electric Power Company Incorporated (TEPCO) has signed a letter of intent with Aggreko stating that it intends, subject to negotiation of definitive terms, to award Aggreko a contract for the rental of 200 megawatts (MW) of emergency power. The contract, half of which will be generated from gas and half from diesel, would be for a minimum one year term. East Yorkshire-based pork supplier Cranswick is slightly lower today after it said results for the year to 31 March 2011 will be broadly in line with expectations. Underlying like-for-like sales for the year to 31 March 2011 increased by 4% while volumes during the period gained 6% on the same basis. Underlying sales in the fourth quarter were in line with those of the previous year. Operating margin was in line with management's expectations.The North Falkland Basin oil and gas exploration company Rockhopper is on the bounce after a favourable technical update regarding its appraisal well 14/10-4. Analysis of test results indicate that the well has the potential to flow at 2,700 barrels per day, a better result than the circa 2,000 barrels per day seen on the 14/10-2 well.Tube manipulation specialist Tricorn said it expects full year pre-tax profit to be significantly ahead of market expectations as it considers recommending a maiden dividend. Pub group and brewer Greene King has agreed a new debt facility with its lenders that will help it finance its expansion plans over the next five years. The new £400m revolving credit facility starts this year and lasts for five years. It replaces an existing £400m facility that was due to expire in April 2012.FTSE 100 - RisersAggreko (AGK) 1,672.00p +4.89%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,613.00p +3.07%GKN (GKN) 209.40p +2.30%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 973.00p +1.67%Kingfisher (KGF) 257.20p +1.34%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,477.50p +1.32%Next (NXT) 2,022.00p +1.10%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,298.00p +1.09%Xstrata (XTA) 1,503.00p +1.08%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,795.00p +1.07%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 245.40p -3.04%Essar Energy (ESSR) 463.10p -2.07%ARM Holdings (ARM) 570.00p -1.81%TUI Travel (TT.) 222.60p -1.68%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,585.00p -1.12%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 224.30p -1.06%Sage Group (SGE) 277.90p -1.03%3i Group (III) 282.90p -1.01%Serco Group (SRP) 543.00p -0.91%G4S (GFS) 257.80p -0.88%FTSE 250 - RisersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 53.40p +4.30%Croda International (CRDA) 1,751.00p +3.36%Persimmon (PSN) 465.50p +3.03%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,702.00p +2.93%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 458.90p +2.39%Lamprell (LAM) 364.00p +2.36%Exillon Energy (EXI) 432.10p +2.34%Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 327.50p +2.34%Senior (SNR) 156.90p +2.28%Afren (AFR) 170.70p +2.22%FTSE 250 - FallersDixons Retail (DXNS) 11.56p -9.12%Cranswick (CWK) 795.00p -4.33%Kofax (KFX) 516.00p -3.55%Avis Europe (AVE) 182.00p -3.45%Greggs (GRG) 512.50p -2.94%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 46.61p -2.88%Mothercare (MTC) 396.00p -2.29%Mitie Group (MTO) 193.30p -2.23%easyJet (EZJ) 326.00p -1.98%Pace (PIC) 150.60p -1.89%RG