London open: Egypt gives early boost

The departure of Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak and gains on Asian markets have given Footsie an early lift.Miners are going well after strong trade figures from China. Xstrata and Rio Tinto lead the sector higher. Reports that China's inflation numbers tomorrow may be better than expected has also lifted the mining sector.Engine maker Rolls-Royce has won a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) contract with Emirates to look after its Trent engines on 70 of the airline's new Airbus A350XWB aircraft. Trading systems developer Fidessa is to pay a special dividend again this year, this time topping last year's 40p payment with a 45p per share pay out, after revenue and adjusted profit before tax both grew 10% in 2010. Oilfield support services group John Wood is also returning money to shareholders, and is to pay out $1.7bn after it agreed to sell its Well Support division to US giant GE for $2.8bn cash.Cable & Wireless Communications has been downgraded by UBS to "sell" from "neutral."National Express has denied weekend reports that hedge fund Elliott wants the bus and train group to put itself up for sale or to merge with Stagecoach or SNCF of France.Exillon Energy, the oil producer with assets in northern Russia and West Siberia, has announced an upgrade to its estimated reserves. The estimate of the group's proved (1P) reserves has increased by 40% to 112m barrels, while proved plus probable (2P) reserves are estimated to be 74% higher.Recruiter Harvey Nash's trading in the second half has been strong and results this year will be ahead of market expectations. Total revenue for the year to January will be £425m, gross profit of £68m and profit before tax of circa £6m, up 46% on the previous comparable year.LED lighting developer Dialight doubled profits in 2010 - "a very satisfactory performance" - following progress in ultra efficient lighting and signalling. The group, which said last month that full-year results would beat expectations, posted a profit before tax of £11.3m, up from £5.3m in 2009. Revenue jumped 28% to £99.2m.