London open: Bright start for blue chips

UK blue chips have made good ground in early dealings with oil and mining groups in demand.BP is the top performer after the US coast guard signalled that the oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico has been permanently sealed. US authorities described the leak from the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico as "effectively dead". Other oil groups are also going well led by India's Essar and BG.Miners are another sector posting good gains. Big hitters Rio Tinto and Xstrata are the top performers. Insurer Brit Insurance has responded to Friday's late announcement that the consortium headed by US private equity firm Apollo has upped its bid offer to £10.75 per share. BAE Systems has strengthened its position in the US counter-terrorism market with the acquisition of the consultancy division of American firm L-1 Identity Solutions. The UK weapons group will pay $296m in cash for the L-1 division, which comprises three firms SpecTal, Advanced Concepts and McClendon. Global banking titan HSBC is to sell its wholesale banknotes business in Asia to United Overseas Bank (UOB). UOB is paying $15m in cash for the assets, with the transfer expected to take place in the final quarter of 2010.WPP has strengthened its Asian business will the acquisition of a 51% stake in Singapore-based Comwerks, a full service digital agency with a big list of government and public sector clients. Comwerks Interactive, only eight years old, specializes in digital media and web 2.0 solutions. Salamander Energy, the oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Asia, said the rig to be used on its Bontang PSC asset in Indonesia should arrive in the drilling area in the first week of October. Sterling Energy, the oil and gas company with interests in the Middle East and Africa, has seen its share price slump after mixed results with its latest exploration well drill tests in Kurdistan.Wind turbine blade maker Clipper Windpower also dived as it warned the credit crisis has impacted the availability of financing for its projects. Net loss for the six months ended 30 June 2010 is expected to be in the range of $26 to $30m compared to a net loss of $120.2m for the same time a year earlier. Motive Television has raised the £4.75m in needs to buy Adecq Digital, the digital terrestrial television technology company confirmed Monday.