London open: Gains as Brown names the day

With Gordon Brown expected to call an election for 6 May, election fever has gone into overdrive.Investors are more focused on resource plays this morning, though. Oil hit an 18-month high last night in New York as the good monthly jobs number last week encouraged more optimism on the US economy.Xstrata, ENRC and Vedanta are the best performers among the miners. Royal Bank of Scotland is going well on weekend reports that a Richard Branson bid is on the way for some of its unwanted parts.Testing and inspections firm Intertek is boosting its presence in the pharmaceutical and environmental markets with the acquisition of the regulatory and safety testing businesses of Ciba Expert Services (Ciba ES) from BASF.Steve Smith, chief executive of Northgate, the vehicle hire group, is to step down from the board. Smith had been scheduled to retire on last year on 1 August.Also heading for the exit is Keith Chapman, chairman of home shopping and educational supplies group Findel.Pharmacy and GP services supplier Assura said it is no longer in takeover talks after the parties that had made the initial bid approach confirmed that they do not intend to pursue an offer.Two companies bearing bad news today are Printing.com and Endace. Specialist printing group Printing.com expects its full-year results to be 'marginally' below market forecasts after recent trading softened while networking monitoring solutions provider Endace said its full-year results will be 'materially' below earlier expectations due to contract delays.There is better news from specialist utility contractor May Gurney, which expects this year's results to meet expectations, with new orders now at record levels.