London pre-open: Positive start indicated

UK blue chips are expected to post modest gains early doors as Wall Street ended higher Friday.Futures prices indicate an initial gain of about 16 points for the FTSE 100, hoping to snap a three-day losing streak.BAE Systems has strengthened its position in the US counter-terrorism market with the acquisition of the consultancy division of American firm L-1 Identity Solutions. The UK weapons group will pay $296m in cash for the L-1 division, which comprises three firms SpecTal, Advanced Concepts and McClendon. The consideration will be funded from BAE Systems' existing cash resources. Global banking titan HSBC is to sell its wholesale banknotes business in Asia to United Overseas Bank (UOB). UOB is paying $15m in cash for the assets, with the transfer expected to take place in the final quarter of 2010.BP has finally capped the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, US officials said Sunday. "Additional regulatory steps will be undertaken but we can now state definitively that the Macondo Well poses no continuing threat to the Gulf of Mexico," US official Admiral Thad Allen said.Salamander Energy, the oil and gas exploration and production company focused on Asia, said the rig to be used on its Bontang PSC asset in Indonesia should arrive in the drilling area in the first week of October. The Hakuryu 5 semi-submersible rig has departed Singapore and is under tow en-route to the Bontang PSC, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Once it arrives it will be used to drill the Angklung-1 exploration prospect. WPP has strengthened its Asian business will the acquisition of a 51% stake in Singapore-based Comwerks, a full service digital agency with a big list of government and public sector clients. Comwerks Interactive, only eight years old, specializes in digital media and web 2.0 solutions and does work for the likes of eBay, Ministry of Law, Ministry of Manpower, National University of Singapore and People's Association.