London open: Stocks fall back

Stocks have edged lower this morning following declines in Asia. Company news is thin on the ground though not without interest. Spirits brands owner Diageo is set to acquire SABMiller's stake in a Kenyan brewery firm for around £140m. Through its subsidiary East African Breweries Limitied (EABL), Diageo - famous for its brands Smirnoff and Guinness - will buy a 20% stake from SABMiller's African subsidiary in Kenya Breweries Limited (KBL) for a cash consideration of 19.53bn Kenyan shillings.Budget airline easyJet saw a sharp rise in the number its passengers flew in May from the same period the previous year as travellers continued to splash out on cheap flights. It flew 4.74m passengers during the month, up from 4.26m in the same month the previous year.Media buyer and market research group Aegis moves ahead after it confirmed speculation that it is in talks with the research think tank Ipsos about a "potential transaction" of Aegis's market research business Synovate. A Sunday Telegraph report said that Aegis is in talks to sell Synovate to Ipsos in a deal that could be worth £500m.Online Smartphone retailer EXPANSYS falls back after saying it expects to report a smaller pre-tax profit than previously anticipated for the year to 30 April amid tough trading in Britain. It expects pre-tax profits for the period to come in at £3.4m, compared to a loss of £200,000 the previous year. Shares in Image Scan jumped after the security scanner group said it won £405,000 of contracts since releasing its interim results last month. FTSE 100 - RisersStandard Chartered (STAN) 1,611.50p +1.61%IMI (IMI) 1,034.00p +1.27%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,285.00p +0.78%Glencore International (GLEN) 508.50p +0.69%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 820.00p +0.61%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,319.50p +0.61%Anglo American (AAL) 2,954.00p +0.48%Rio Tinto (RIO) 4,126.50p +0.46%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,410.00p +0.43%Essar Energy (ESSR) 433.60p +0.25%FTSE 100 - FallersCarnival (CCL) 2,340.00p -1.39%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,462.00p -1.22%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,805.00p -1.10%ARM Holdings (ARM) 565.00p -1.05%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,366.00p -1.01%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 234.60p -0.89%ICAP (IAP) 467.80p -0.89%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 112.60p -0.88%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 135.60p -0.88%Xstrata (XTA) 1,352.00p -0.84%FTSE 250 - RisersAegis Group (AGS) 151.00p +6.94%Elementis (ELM) 163.20p +3.29%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 47.00p +2.62%COLT Group SA (COLT) 146.00p +2.10%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 101.00p +2.07%DS Smith (SMDS) 217.40p +1.97%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 78.90p +1.74%Premier Foods (PFD) 31.73p +1.41%Senior (SNR) 153.70p +1.25%Lamprell (LAM) 398.90p +1.24%FTSE 250 - FallersShanks Group (SKS) 122.10p -3.86%Computacenter (CCC) 450.10p -2.15%Helical Bar (HLCL) 259.50p -2.04%Ocado Group (OCDO) 217.50p -2.03%SIG (SHI) 145.40p -1.96%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 142.00p -1.87%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 115.00p -1.54%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 265.00p -1.49%SVG Capital (SVI) 259.60p -1.29%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 459.80p -1.14%---RG