UK Market News

LONDON (ShareCast) - Miners were rampant Wednesday on stronger commodity prices, leaving the sector heavyweights dominating the blue chip index.

There was healthy demand for gold on the metal markets, while copper also improved. The red metal headed higher following strong Chinese manufacturing data, while decreasing stocks of copper in LME warehouses also provided support.

The second half of the year also got off to a good start following better than expected UK factory output data. The CIPS/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index rose to 47 in June from 45.4 the month before and a gloomy 34.9 in February.

Most of the top ten gains by Footsie (news) constituents were recorded by miners, with Vedanta, ENRC, Xstrata (LSE: XTA.L - news) , and Kazakhmys (LSE: KAZ.L - news) the pick of the crop. Latin America-focused miner Hochschild was one of the best performing mid-caps after increasing its ownership in Gold Resource Corporation (GORO.OB - news) , a US OTC traded underground precious metals mining company, to 23.9%.

Oil stocks were also wanted as the oil price neared $72 before slipping back. BG Group (LSE: BG.L - news) is did well, but airline British Airways (LSE: BAY.L - news) reacted negatively to the shift in oil price.

Investors also fear BA could still face a summer of strikes after it called in conciliation service ACAS to try and broker a settlement with unions in a row over jobs and pay.

Marks and Spencer (LSE: MKS.L - news) 's like-for-like sales fell across its major divisions in the first quarter, though total group sales were up. In the 13-weeks to June, UK like for like sales fell 1.4%, General Merchandise slipped 2.4% and Food was down 0.5%, but the figures were better than feared and the shares are up. Next is higher in sympathy.

Standard Chartered (LSE: STAN.L - news) and ANZ, Australia's fourth-largest lender, are in advanced talks to buy separate parts of Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) 's Asian assets., the Financial Times reports.

Elsewhere in the financial sector property giant Land Securities (LSE: LAND.L - news) nudges up a rung after announcing the sale of Portman House, a retail and office property located on Oxford Street in London, for £115m, but Lloyds Banking (LSE: LLOY.L - news) eases back after Credit Suisse cut its price target for the stock from 55p to 50p. Fellow Swiss bank UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) has cooled on home insurance group Homeserve (LSE: HSV.L - news) , cutting its rating from "buy" to "neutral".

Hedge fund manager Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) is worst of the blue chip fallers after going ex-dividend.

But bus and rail group National Express (LSE: NEX.L - news) is the big loser of the day as it handed back the East Coast franchise to the Department for Transport after failing to renegotiate terms. The service will now be nationalised until a new franchisee is found. National Express, which also confirmed the departure of chief executive Richard Bowker, will not be considered ever again for a franchise, said the government.

Legacy software group Micro Focus (LSE: MCRO.L - news) has upped its cash offer for Borland for a second time to see off a potential rival bidder. Micro Focus is now offering $1.50 cash for each outstanding share of Borland Software Corporation (BORL - news) , which values it, on a fully diluted basis, at approximately $113m.

Energy services provider John Wood Group (LSE: WG.L - news) said performance in the year to date remains in line with expectations. The group said although the oil price has strengthened over recent weeks, market conditions remain broadly similar to those outlined in May.

Oil service firm Hunting (LSE: HTG.L - news) said should current market conditions and commodity prices prevail, trading throughout the remainder of the year will be challenging. Panmure Gordon responded by cutting its price target for the stock from 433p to 400p.

AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN.L - news) has received EU marketing approval for its lung cancer treatment Iressa four years after its was withdrawn from use after disappointing trial data.

Brewing company SABMiller (LSE: SAB.L - news) is to give a 10% stake in its South African subsidiary to agencies representing the black community in South Africa.

Engineer and construction contractor Balfour Beatty (LSE: BBY.L - news) said its joint venture company Gammon Construction has won a contract for the redevelopment of the Hennessy Centre in Hong Kong.

Morgan Sindall (LSE: MGNS.L - news) , the construction and regeneration company, said it is on course to meet management's expectations for the full year, despite continued tough trading conditions in some of its markets.

The share price of industrial conglomerate Lupus Capital (Berlin: LUO.BE - news) is ripped to shreds after the company announced the departure of legendary wheeler-dealer Greg Hutchings, who has been executive chairman of the company since 2004. The company has refinanced its banking facilities, albeit at a higher interest rate and at the cost of a one-off £7.5m payment to its bankers.

FTSE 100 - Risers Vedanta Resources (LSE: VED.L - news) (VED) 1,415.00p +9.86% International Power (LSE: IPR.L - news) (IPR) 253.75p +6.62% Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO.L - news) (ANTO) 624.50p +6.30% Old Mutual (LSE: OML.L - news) (OML) 85.89p +6.13% Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 694.50p +6.11% Xstrata (XTA) 693.20p +5.46% Kazakhmys (KAZ) 662.00p +5.08% Johnson Matthey (LSE: JMAT.L - news) (JMAT) 1,206.00p +4.78% Schroders NV (SDRC) 701.50p +4.70% BHP Billiton (LSE: BLT.L - news) (BLT) 1,425.00p +4.47%

FTSE 100 - Fallers Man Group (EMG) 262.00p -5.59% Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.25p -2.40% Pearson (LSE: PSON.L - news) (PSON) 601.50p -1.31% British Airways (BAY) 124.00p -0.56% British Land Co (BLND) 380.00p -0.52% Autonomy Corporation (LSE: AU.L - news) (AU.) 1,430.00p -0.49% 3i Group (III) 241.00p -0.41% BAE Systems (LSE: BA.L - news) (BA.) 337.25p -0.37% Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 205.00p -0.24% Standard Life (LSE: SL.L - news) (SL.) 185.70p -0.21%

FTSE 250 (news) - Risers Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC.L - news) (HOC) 305.50p +10.09% Taylor Wimpey (LSE: TW.L - news) (TW.) 36.00p +7.46% Marston's (MARS) 127.25p +7.16% Interserve (IRV) 187.50p +6.99% Melrose Resources (LSE: MRS.L - news) (MRS) 278.00p +6.92% Fidessa (FDSA) 1,160.00p +6.62% Keller Group (KLR) 588.00p +6.23% SIG (SIGN.SW - news) (SHI) 104.25p +6.11% Greene King (LSE: GNK.L - news) (GNK) 410.00p +6.01% Melrose (LSE: MRO.L - news) (MRO) 97.50p +5.98%

FTSE 250 - Fallers National Express Group (NEX) 284.00p -8.24% Yell Group (LSE: YELL.L - news) (YELL) 25.00p -4.76% SThree (STHR) 173.50p -4.14% Homeserve (HSV) 1,442.00p -3.87% Tate & Lyle (TATE) 307.00p -3.61% Helical Bar (LSE: HLCL.L - news) (HLCL) 317.00p -3.57% Morgan Sindall (MGNS) 667.00p -3.47% Hunting (HTG) 435.50p -3.11% Cookson Group (CKSN) 253.25p -3.06% Kier Group (LSE: KIE.L - news) (KIE) 893.50p -2.88%