Headline shares were lower in early deals today, with mining shares taking a tumble as BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) went hostile in its bid for Potash Corporation and ENRC warned of short-term volatility in commodities. At 8:30am, the FTSE 100 was down 30.07 points at 5,320.48 with the FTSE 250 23.46 points lower at 9,888.39 and the FTSE Smallcaps off 1.45 points at 2,795.14. In the US last night, the Dow rose 104 points at 10,406, the Nasdaq Composite added 28 points at 2,209 and the S&P500 improved 13 points at 1,093. In Asia today, the Nikkei closed up 79 points at 9,240, while the Hang Seng was recently off 100 points at 21,037.
LONDON MARKETS
The minutes of the last BoE MPC meeting on interest rates will be released at 9:30am.
M&A activity again occupied investors this morning, with news from BHP Billiton that it is to go hostile in its bid for Potash Corporation with a $130 a share offer. BHP shares slipped 17.5p at 1,898.5p in response. However, ENRC was the biggest blue chip casualty early on, down 20.5p at 947.5p, after the Kazakh miner warned of short-term volatility in commodities as it revealed interim results showing numbers boosted by China growth. Elsewhere in the sector, Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) lost 37p at 2,183p and Anglo American (LON:AAL) slumped 29.5p at 2,443.5p.
Oil producers weakened as crude stalled below $76 a barrel, with Shell off 9.5p at 1,726.5p and BP (LON:BP.) down 4.35p at 403.65p. Financial issues were weaker, with very few exceptions, as the recent frantic M&A activity involving Aviva (LON:AV.) and RSA softened. Aviva, which is being urged by major stakeholders to look again at the RSA approach, fell 2.6p at 394.7p, while RSA eased 0.1p at 125.3p. Legal & General was the sole riser in the sector, up 2.6p at 95.85p. Among the banks, only Lloyds made any progress, up a modest 0.23p at 70.92p. Barclays (LON:BARC) slid 2.1p at 325p and Royal Bank Of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS) shed 0.09p at 47.16p.
News of yet another failing travel company heaped pressure on holiday operator Tui Travel Plc (LON:TT.), the shares dipping 1.4p at 205p. Other notable fallers included cigarette giant BAT, off 39.5p at 2,241p on turning ex-dividend, household goods conglomerate
