London pre-open: Heading south

Last night's triple-digit drop on Wall Street and further losses in Asia this morning point to a poor start for London Wednesday.US stocks fell on concerns about the European bank stress tests. Futures prices currently indicate a 20-point fall for the FTSE 100.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. All Vodafone's 643m China Mobile shares will be sold by an accelerated bookbuild run by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and UBS.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.South east-based housebuilder Berkeley reporters 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.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.