London midday: Traders go 'cold turkey' on shares

Traders are regarding UK shares with all the enthusiasm of someone being offered another round of cold turkey sandwiches, as the lull between Christmas and New Year continues.Fallers outnumber risers by around two to one among Footsie constituents, with miners reflecting the mixed picture. Silver miner Fresnillo is again on the rise, while Rio Tinto, Lonmin and BHP Billiton also head higher, but yesterday's two big risers Randgold and African Barrick have both run into profit taking, while Antofagasta is also given the cold shoulder.BP is off the pace after it faced more US litigation with an investor lawsuit claiming the oil giant repeatedly lied about its safety record over the past five years.Big contracts continue to roll in at Petrofac with the fabrications group now chosen to develop the SEPAT offshore early production system on the East coast of Peninsular Malaysia.Also celebrating contract wins is infrastructure contractor Balfour Beatty, though, unlike Petrofac, its share price is not deriving any benefit from the news. The company has won HK$2.3m of contracts in Hong Kong through a subsidiary.Simon Property is edging closer to launching a full-scale takeover bid for Capital Shopping Centres, the owner of 14 UK shopping centres, after it agreed a £3bn loan from a consortium of banks yesterday. Uranium miner Berkeley Resources' exclusivity agreement with Russian mining giant Severstal has ended after the two failed to agree takeover terms. The announcement has raised fears that the deal may not now go ahead although Berkeley said it was still in talks with Severstal.TUI Travel is lower after it parted company with auditor KPMG yesterday after the relationship broke down following the discovery of £117m worth of irrecoverable balances after the integration of the tour operator's IT systems. PricewaterhouseCoopers is replacing KPMG as group auditor.AIM and Frankfurt listed nickel and copper miner Regency Mines has moved into the black for the first time. The company reported a profit before tax of £0.60m in the year to 30 June, compared to a loss of £0.71m the year before.FTSE 100 - RisersFresnillo (FRES) 1,637.00p +1.11%Cairn Energy (CNE) 421.90p +0.72%Old Mutual (OML) 125.40p +0.72%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,553.00p +0.71%Investec (INVP) 535.00p +0.66%Lonmin (LMI) 1,995.00p +0.61%Man Group (EMG) 301.00p +0.60%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,579.50p +0.59%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 681.00p +0.59%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,593.00p +0.57%FTSE 100 - FallersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,355.00p -1.65%ARM Holdings (ARM) 426.50p -1.59%Experian (EXPN) 795.50p -1.43%Amec (AMEC) 1,149.00p -1.12%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,066.00p -1.10%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,135.00p -1.05%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,800.00p -1.04%Aggreko (AGK) 1,512.00p -0.98%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 268.60p -0.96%BAE Systems (BA.) 332.80p -0.95%