London midday: Shares still seeking direction

Shares remain uncertain following a raft of company statements this morning.Updates have been broadly well received, but ratings agency Standard & Poors' downgrade of Japan's credit rating weighing on sentiment. S&P now rates the far eastern nation at AA-, citing worries over its large debt burden.BSkyB has demonstrated why newspaper group NewsCorp is so keen to take over the satellite broadcaster, with a strong rise in profits in the six months to 31 December. Pre-tax profits climbed to £237m from £185m over the same period the previous year on revenues that rose to £1.66bn from £1.44bn. The shares are among the best-performing in the FTSE 100.Production updates from the miners Vedanta and Kazakhmys have also been given the thumbs up.Kazakhmys said 2010 output levels met or exceeded targets in all areas. Annual production of copper cathode from the group's own material was 303,000 tons, in line with the target set at the start of 2010.Vedanta posted a record quarterly profit in the three months to 31 December as it continued to ride the global commodities boom.Earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation (EBITDA) were up by 35% from the same period last year to $895m. Sales of aluminium, zinc, copper and iron ore were all sharply higher in value terms.An unexpected fall in profits at the Swedish fashion retailer Hennes & Maurritz, known on the High Street as H&M, has sent jitters across the retail sector, sending shares in Next and Marks & Spencer lower. H&M cited rising raw material prices as a reason for the squeeze.TUI Travel has been hit by December's snow and riots in Tunisia, but bookings have recovered since the weather improved. Volumes are up 14% at the Thomson Holidays owner so far this month and cumulative winter bookings are up 3% on a year ago despite having to cancel all flights to Tunisia since 15 January.International private equity company 3i Group saw an 'encouraging increase in activity' in its markets in the final quarter of 2010. The group invested £183m in the three month period at the end of the year, bringing the total investment for the first nine months of the group's financial year up to £510m; that is more than double the £249m invested in the corresponding period of 2009.Investors have raised a glass to pub group Mitchells & Butlers after drinkers refused to let the snow get in the way of Christmas festivities. Heritage Oil has recovered some of yesterday's losses which came after it reported a big gas find in Iraq, when many had been hoping for oil.Anglo-Swedish drugs firm AstraZeneca beat market expectations despite strong competition from generic versions of its drugs in the USA last year. Revenue for the full year was unchanged on a constant exchange rates (CER) basis at $33,629m. Core earnings per share (EPS) for 2010 rose by 5% on a CER basis to $6.71, versus expectations of $6.60. Reported EPS rose 7% (CER) to $5.60. Oil firm Tullow said group working interest production for 2010 averaged 58,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), in line with the 2009 average, and is expected to average 86,000 to 92,000 boepd in 2011.Turning back to mining, Platinum miner Lonmin reported a fall in sales for the first quarter of its financial year due to weather disruption and the rebuilding of a furnace, but maintained its guidance for the full year. The company, which mines for the precious metal in South Africa, said its platinum sales of 66,426 ounces in the last three months of 2010 were down by 39.1% from the same period the previous year "mainly because of the Number One furnace rebuild and also as a result of bad weather affecting customer deliveries over the Christmas period in the northern hemisphere."Also in South African platinum mining, Aquarius Platinum grew production by 14% during the second quarter, driven by an increase at flagship asset Kroondal. Output for the three months to 31 December was up at 127,579 ounces from 112,359 ounces the year before as Kroondal delivered a 10% increase to 59,722 ounces.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,392.00p +4.66%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,952.00p +4.49%Sage Group (SGE) 296.10p +2.63%Man Group (EMG) 291.10p +2.61%Old Mutual (OML) 128.00p +2.07%Inmarsat (ISAT) 664.50p +2.00%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 772.50p +1.98%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 528.00p +1.83%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,608.00p +1.77%Anglo American (AAL) 3,206.00p +1.60%FTSE 100 - FallersNext (NXT) 2,041.00p -2.11%ARM Holdings (ARM) 528.50p -1.31%BAE Systems (BA.) 351.20p -1.24%Reed Elsevier (REL) 562.50p -1.14%United Utilities Group (UU.) 552.50p -1.07%Capita Group (CPI) 676.50p -1.02%Kingfisher (KGF) 260.90p -1.02%Unilever (ULVR) 1,847.00p -1.02%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 275.20p -0.94%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,410.00p -0.91%FTSE 250 - RisersHeritage Oil (HOIL) 333.00p +7.42%Petropavlovsk (POG) 1,107.00p +7.27%Renishaw (RSW) 1,685.00p +5.44%Mitchells & Butlers (MAB) 360.60p +5.19%Victrex (VCT) 1,478.00p +4.67%SThree (STHR) 388.20p +4.66%Mondi (MNDI) 525.50p +4.16%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 190.50p +4.10%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 546.00p +4.00%Greene King (GNK) 465.30p +3.93%FTSE 250 - FallersCentamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 130.50p -4.54%Hansen Transmissions International NV (DI) (HSN) 54.50p -4.39%CPP Group (CPP) 303.70p -4.04%BTG (BGC) 243.40p -3.26%Ocado Group (OCDO) 213.00p -3.14%Redrow (RDW) 124.80p -2.88%Restaurant Group (RTN) 296.60p -2.69%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 36.14p -2.30%Betfair Group (BET) 965.00p -2.03%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,050.00p -1.87%