London open: Dull start for blue chips

Last night's triple-digit drop on Wall Street and further losses in Asia meant a poor start in London. US stocks fell on concerns about the European bank stress tests.Property groups are the best performers with Land Securities, Hammerson and British Land all rising strongly. A potential political row over the appointment of Bob Diamond as its new CEO is dogging Barclays while BHP Billiton, Diageo and Rexam all went ex-dividend today.Vodafone is selling its 3.2% stake in China Mobile for £4.3bn ($6.6bn) in cash as part of the mobile phone giant's strategy of exiting its smaller investments. It will return about 70% of the money to shareholders through share buybacks and use the rest to slim down its £33bn debt pile.Dana Petroleum's board has launched a fierce defence of its continued rejection of the 1,800p offer from Korean group KNOC, saying the group is worth at least 2,270p and could be worth 3,053p including all its potential assets. That valuation includes the UK assets of Suncor Petroleum, which Dana agreed to buy today for £240m having flagged the purchase last month.A 0.2% increase in house prices last month has hauled the cost of a home back close to levels seen at the end of 2009, according to the latest report. That's 4.6% higher than a year ago using a three-month average price, a little less than July's 4.9% and a continuation of the downward trend fro May's 6.9%. Reports from sector stalwarts were mixed. South east-based housebuilder Berkeley said demand in the Capital has held up over the past three months, though outside London business is tougher. "Demand for properties in the period from 1st May to 31st August 2010 has been resilient, particularly in London which has a shortage of supply and specific demand from international purchasers who are keen to invest in the Capital," Berkeley said.Housebuilder Barratt cut its losses sharply last year and made a net profit in the second half as the housing market rebounded, though reservations have turned down recently. Losses before tax and exceptional items were £33.0m (2009: £144.1m) with a profit before tax and exceptional items of £15.5m in the second half. The loss before tax for the year to June was £162.9m (2009: £678.9m).Chocolate maker Thorntons served up a decline in full year profit and while it expects market conditions to remain rocky, it believes its more streamlined business puts it in a stronger position moving ahead. The group, which issued a profit warning earlier this year, said pre-tax profit fell by 2.4% to £6.1m in the year ended 26 June 2010. Revenues remained flat at £214.6m.Restaurant chain Prezzo traded strongly through the economic uncertainty of the first half of the year and has dusted off its growth plans. Revenue in the half-year to June rose 11% to £48.4m, up from £43.7m, with pre-tax profits climbing from £5.1m to £6m.Alliance Pharma is to more than double its interim dividend as it posted record results during the first half. For the six months to the end of June profit before tax and exceptional items surged to £7.7m.