London open: Mixed start for blue chips

London has opened lower with banks and miners mixed and buyers largely sitting on the sidelines.The potential impact of President Obama's new bank controls continues to weigh heavily on the UK sector, with additional fears that a new chunk of fund raising could be on the cards to meet tougher new capital requirements. Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking are the worst affected so far this morning, though the Far East focused banks are doing better. Both HSBC and Standard Chartered are higher.US shares fell heavily last week on the shock plans for the banks, while miners were bashed by China's plans to restrict lending. They have rallied a little today, though sentiment remains fragile. Heavyweights Anglo American, Rio Tinto and Lonmin are the best performers.Anyone holding out hope of a rival bid to the Kraft offer for Cadbury from Ferrero will be disappointed, as the Italian confectionery company confirmed it has no intention of making a bid for the Creme Egg maker.Strike fears have sent British Airways lower as a new ballot by cabin crew is announced. Wolseley says finance chief Steve Webster is leaving the building materials firm at the end of March and will be replaced by John Martin from UK private equity firm Alchemy Partners. Webster, who oversaw last year's £1bn fundraising and sale of US building supply arm Stock Building Supply for £175m, takes a bow after 15 years at the company. Hornby's sales were 'encouraging' in the weeks up the Christmas and period immediately after, with the model train and racing car group adding it has also largely sorted out the supply issues that have dogged it recently. Trading in the final quarter of 2009 at engineering data and IT systems provider Aveva was 'satisfactory', leaving the company on track to meet full year targets. Though the marine market has remained becalmed, the oil, gas and power markets have been resilient the world over, benefiting from continuing projects and demand from new economies. Underwriter Hiscox reports its catastrophe losses have remained 'particularly benign' since November with no significant losses in the US and European claims greatly improved. The cold weather sparked a small amount of small amount of activity, it added. Engineering conglomerate Lupus Capital said 2009 results are likely to be in line or marginally ahead of market expectations. Total sales for the year are expected to fall 9%, or 17% on a constant currency basis, to £241.6m from £266.6m the year before. 'The group remains cautious as we enter 2010, as trading conditions are not expected to improve rapidly and, despite encouraging recent trading, our end markets remain fragile,' the company said.