WINNERS & LOSERS: Miners Boosted By China Rate Cut

LONDON (Alliance News) - The following stocks are amongst the biggest risers and fallers within the main London indices midday Monday.
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FTSE 100 WINNERS
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Royal Mail, up 3.6%. The mail and parcels delivery company's shares are up after postal firm Whistl suspended its door-to-door letterbox service, Sky News reported, putting jobs at risk. The report said that Whistl is trying to control its losses after LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyds Banking Group, withdrew from talks about a possible investment in the company at the end of April.

Anglo American, up 3.1%, Glencore, up 2.4%, BHP Billiton, up 2.1%, Rio Tinto, up 2.0%, and Antofagasta, up 1.1%. The miners are trading higher after the People's Bank of China cut interest rates for the third time in six months on Sunday to try and reverse an economic slowdown. The central bank said on its website it would lower its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points to 5.1%. The measure takes effect on Monday. The bank will also cut its one-year benchmark deposit rates by the same amount to 2.25%.

Tesco, up 2.4%. The supermarket chain is preparing to sell its mobile business as part of its efforts to slim its business and reduce its debts, the Financial Times reported Saturday. TalkTalk Telecom Group and 02 are said to be among the bidders. Furthermore, New York-listed consumer research company Nielsen Holdings NV is poised to join the GBP2 billion auction for Tesco's clubcard loyalty scheme Dunnhumby, the Sunday Times reported.
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FTSE 100 LOSERS
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Aberdeen Asset Management, down 1.2%. Societe Generale has cut the asset manager to Hold from Buy.
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FTSE 250 WINNERS
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Lonmin, up 2.2%. The miner said its pretax loss for the first half of the year narrowed despite revenue being hurt by lower commodity prices, as the company focuses on reducing expenditure and costs in preparation for lower prices for a minimum of two years. It reported a pretax loss of USD118 million in the six months ended March 31, narrower than the USD278 million loss in the first half of the 2014 financial year, as a decline in revenue was offset by fewer impairments.

Cairn Energy, up 1.7%. The company said it has submitted a three-year evaluation work plan to the government of Senegal, which, if approved, will allow drilling on a new basin around the SNE-1 discovery well later in 2015 to compliment the existing discoveries in the area and could lead to a resource of over 1.0 billion barrels of oil.

Bodycote, up 1.7%. Citigroup has upgraded the specialty chemicals company to Buy from Neutral.
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FTSE 250 LOSERS
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Diploma, down 3.9%. The controls, seals and medical devices company posted a rise in pretax profit for the first half of its financial year, buoyed by acquisitions, and it increased its interim dividend, saying this expressed its confidence in its growth prospects. However, Numis downgrades Diploma to Hold From Add, following a strong share performance that had driven its price above the broker's target of 843 pence.

Spirax-Sarco Engineering, down 2.9%. The engineer said its organic revenue was up 4% in the first four months of 2015, and its operating profit was also higher even though exchange rate movements reduced its revenue earned overseas by 1.8% when translated into sterling. The company also said the normal seasonal growth in its order book hadn't been as strong in the early months of this year compared with the strong growth it saw early in 2014.
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AIM ALL-SHARE WINNERS
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Forbidden Technologies, up 11%. The company said that it has won a new agreement in the sports post production market which helps underpin its expectations for its current financial year. Financial details of the contract are bound by various confidentiality clauses, but Forbidden said it expects revenue over the lifetime of the contract to be "material" in the context of its previous contracts in this space.

Eco Animal Health Group, up 10%. The company said it has been granted marketing authorisation in the United Arab Emirates for its Aivlosin antibiotic water soluble granuals for poultry, and antiparasitics Ecomectin injection and Ecomectin Horse Paste.
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AIM ALL-SHARE LOSERS
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Daniel Steward Securities, off 20%. The stockbroker and wealth manager's shares are trading lower after in resumed trading in the AIM All-Share index. It said late Friday that it has appointed Beaumont Cornish Ltd as its nominated adviser with immediate effect and plans to raise GBP1 million in a share placing.

Orogen Gold, down 11%. The gold miner said its pretax loss narrowed in 2014 amid fewer impairments and said its focus is on bringing in new partners to spread the costs of developing its projects in a difficult time for junior miners. "We are currently reviewing options for financing the work to be done including the possibility of introducing a project partner," said Chairman Adam Reynolds.
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By Neil Thakrar; neilthakrar@alliancenews.com; @NeilThakrar1

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