London midday: Stocks becalmed

After a bright start things in London have tailed off with those traders still chained to their screens probably contemplating an early getaway for the week-end.Constituents of the FTSE 100 index are almost exactly divided between leaders and laggards, with insurers and base metal miners prominent among the risers and gold miners to the fore among the losers. Corporate news flow has been generally positive today, with both Bodycote and SIG predicting profits will beat market expectations while Bovis has held out the hope of a resumption of dividend payments. Housebuilder Bovis is selling homes in line with its targeted weekly sale rate and will resume dividend payments at the end of the financial year as long as things continue as they are. The company's share price is marginally down on the news but it is doing much better than sector peers Bellway, Barratt Developments and Redrow after HSBC issued a bearish note on the sector. HSBC goes relatively easy on Bovis and Berkeley, rating them both as "holds" but it has underweight ratings for Barratt, Bellway, Persimmon, Redrow and Taylor Wimpey.Steady and broad based progress is being made at engineering firm Bodycote leaving it on course to comfortably exceed the highest broker forecast for full year operating profit.Insulation materials and specialist construction products maker SIG said underlying profit before tax for the first half of 2010 will be above market expectations. Sales in sterling of around £1,291m were down some 4.0% compared to £1,345m a year earlier, and were around 3.0% lower on a constant currency basis.Growth in permanent placements, especially in Asia and Latin America, helped recruiter Michael Page lift second quarter profits by a third. Group gross profit rose to £111.5m to June up 33.1% on this time last year's £83.8m and sequentially up 14.0% on the first three months of 2010.Power grid provider National Grid is friendless after Citigroup suggested that the company may need to sell its US business to protect its business. Broker comment has lifted the bookies, however, ahead of Sunday's World Cup final betting bonanza. Ladbrokes and William Hill both move up after Merrill Lynch issued an upbeat note on the sector. Pharmaceuticals giant GlaxoSmithKline is nervously lower ahead of the verdict next week from the US Food and Drug Administration on the company's Avandia drug. Panmure Gordon reckons "political pressure may impose more severe limitations on use, or in a worst case remove the drug from the market altogether," but thinks the market is over-estimating the size of any potential liabilities. British Airways, still in the process of sorting out its merger with Iberia, is already casting its eye further afield and will be ready to do another deal next year, BA boss Willie Walsh told the Aviation Club in London.Price comparison web site Moneysupermarket's revenue for the six months ended 30 June was about £71.5m, with UK internet revenues up around 6% year on year, or just over 10% excluding travel.Contractor Interserve has cautioned that 2010 is proving to be a 'challenging year', but still expects an improvement in the second half despite the uncertainty over government spending cuts.Former coal and uranium miner Polo Resources is in the sights of Laxey Partners, which is considering making an offer for the company less than a month after Polo's proposed merger with Caledon Resources collapsed. Laxey hass made a non-binding indicative offer for Polo.FTSE 100 - RisersPrudential (PRU) 534.00p +3.09%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 86.40p +3.04%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 601.50p +3.00%Antofagasta (ANTO) 875.50p +2.82%BT Group (BT.A) 139.30p +2.43%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,146.50p +2.38%Standard Life (SL.) 190.50p +1.93%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,078.00p +1.70%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 61.51p +1.33%Burberry Group (BRBY) 797.50p +1.33%FTSE 100 - FallersAfrican Barrick Gold (ABG) 582.50p -1.85%National Grid (NG.) 493.90p -1.61%SEGRO (SGRO) 270.00p -1.53%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,126.00p -1.40%BP (BP.) 362.05p -1.35%Serco Group (SRP) 557.00p -1.33%Schroders NV (SDRC) 1,007.00p -1.18%Randgold Resources (RRS) 6,175.00p -1.12%Schroders (SDR) 1,217.00p -1.06%Bunzl (BNZL) 684.00p -1.01%