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London open: Cautious start after yesterday's sell-off

Wed, 11th Apr 2012 08:27

- Miners rebound after steep losses yesterday- Eyes on Spanish yields as industrial output slips- BT falls after downgradeThe Footsie swung between gains and losses on Wednesday morning after closing at a four-month low the day before. The blue chip index lost 2.24 per cent on Tuesday to finish under 5,600 for the first time in 2012 on concerns over the US jobs market and Eurozone bond yields.The focus will likely again turn to peripheral bond yields in the Eurozone today, after the borrowing rates for Spanish and Italian 10-year debt soared on Tuesday to near-6% each.Spanish bonds may be under further pressure after it was revealed this morning that Spanish industrial production dropped by an annual rate of 5.1% in February, a faster decline than the month before.Meanwhile, the country's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has said that "a good part of Spain's future is at stake" as the government attempts to roll-out severe spending cuts. "The problem is that the markets can lend or decide not to lend," he said.In domestic news, UK retail sales values increased by 1.3% on a like-for-like basis in March, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). "The unusually warm weather in March brought some welcome sunshine into the lives of non-food retailers. The early signs of summer got people buying clothes and shoes for the new season," said the BRC's Director-General, Stephen Robertson.FTSE 100: Miners on the reboundMiners were registering moderate gains, clawing back some of yesterday's steep losses, after US aluminium giant Alcoa beat expectations in its first-quarter earnings report last night. Kazakhmys, Evraz, Fresnillo, Rio Tinto and Antofagasta were high risers early on.BHP Billiton was in demand after announcing that approval for its $708m share in pre-commitment funding for the Mad Dog Phase 2 project in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. Oil and gas giant BP, which is the operator in the project with a 60.5% share, saw shares fall though.Telecoms titan BT Group was lower after a downgrade from JP Morgan Cazenove.Some stocks were providing a drag after going ex-dividend - BG Group, Filtrona, IMI, Logica, RPS Group and Wood Group were among a host of stocks that are now trading without the right to their latest dividends. FTSE 250: Michael Page dropsLeading the upside on the second-tier index were the resource stocks with Petropavlovsk, Ferrexpo, Cairn Energy, Bumi and African Barrick Gold among the best performers.However, recruitment firm Michael Page International was providing a drag after admitting that "markets continue to be weak and visibility remains limited." Nevertheless, gross profit in the first quarter of 2012 grew by 6.9%, up 7.7% on a constant currency basis.Dunelm was eking out small gains despite seeing like-for-like sales growth ease slightly in its third quarter. Total sales in the three months to March 31st grew by 10.7%.FTSE 100 - RisersG4S (GFS) 282.40p +3.41%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,698.00p +1.86%Barclays (BARC) 209.55p +1.58%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,531.00p +0.99%ITV (ITV) 82.80p +0.67%Aviva (AV.) 307.20p +0.66%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 858.50p +0.64%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 249.20p +0.61%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,012.00p +0.60%Wolseley (WOS) 2,263.00p +0.58%FTSE 100 - FallersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 24.19p -2.14%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,946.00p -1.96%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 642.50p -1.76%Reed Elsevier (REL) 529.00p -1.67%BT Group (BT.A) 215.20p -1.56%IMI (IMI) 910.50p -1.35%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,510.00p -1.31%ARM Holdings (ARM) 575.00p -1.29%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 690.50p -1.15%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,174.00p -1.10%FTSE 250 - RisersHeritage Oil (HOIL) 136.40p +2.48%Exillon Energy (EXI) 125.70p +2.20%Fenner (FENR) 414.30p +2.04%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 67.90p +2.03%Halma (HLMA) 383.20p +1.83%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 277.30p +1.61%Petropavlovsk (POG) 493.70p +1.54%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 366.70p +1.49%Cairn Energy (CNE) 325.60p +1.37%Bumi (BUMI) 593.50p +1.37%FTSE 250 - FallersMichael Page International (MPI) 428.20p -5.66%Logica (LOG) 83.00p -3.32%UBM (UBM) 570.00p -3.14%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 3,100.00p -3.12%Berendsen (BRSN) 499.60p -2.71%Mondi (MNDI) 535.00p -2.64%Northgate (NTG) 191.70p -2.49%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 17.15p -2.45%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 461.30p -2.27%Ocado Group (OCDO) 104.00p -2.07%BC

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