This Morning in London major shares slipped slightly lower in early trade, dragged down by weak heavyweight mining stocks. BHP Billiton (BLT) lost 26p to 1,492p, Rio Tinto (RIO) shed 47p to 5,119p and Vedanta Resources (VED) dropped 16p to 1,959p. Vedanta looks set to raise its stake in Zambia's Konkola copper mines, according to a report in Indian local business daily The Economic Times. Vedanta already owns 51% of Konkola and wants to increase its stake by buying out Zambia Copper Investments' 28.4% stake in the largest copper mine there, the report said, quoting sources close to the development. Elsewhere, Wolseley (WOS) was off 16p at 625p, after the building materials giant said sales trends and the outlook are uncertain. At 9:50 the FTSE-100 was down 15 points at 6,125.7 with the FTSE-250 up 19.8 points at 10,311.3.
BROKER RECOMMENDATIONS
ABN Amro has buys for Tesco (TSCO) and Vodafone (VOD).
Altium Securities reiterates buy Speedy Hire (SDY) with an £11 target, has a buy and 275p target for Civica (CIV), a buy for SQS Group (SQS) and a hold for Future (FUTR).
Cazenove reiterates outperform for Compass Group (CPG) and has an outperform for Barclays (BARC).
Charles Stanley downgrades Universe Group (UNG) to hold from buy with a 10p target and upgrades Character Group (CCT) to buy from add with a 250p target.
Citigroup upgrades Laird Group (LARD) to buy from hold, raising target to 630p from 590p.
Collins Stewart reiterates sell Anglo Irish Bank (ANGL) with an €8.65 target, has a buy for Barclays (BARC), cutting target to 727p from 893p, reducing estimates and a buy and 350p target for Compass Group (CPG).
Credit Suisse upgrades Paragon (PAG) to outperform from neutral, raising target to 175p from 145p.
Deutsche Bank upgrades British Airways (BAY) to buy from hold and downgrades Ryanair (RYA) to hold from buy.
Goldman Sachs, in a note on European insurers, downgrades Prudential (PRU) to neutral from buy, cutting target to 724p from 879p, downgrades Royal & Sun Alliance (RSA) to sell from neutral, cutting target to 116p from 148p, upgrades Irish Life (IPM) to buy from neutral, cutting target to €17.2 from €23.2, has a neutral for Benfield (BFD), cutting target to 303p from 313p, a neutral for Catlin (CGL), cutting target to 468p from 551p, a sell for Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT), cutting target to 347p from 394p, a neutral for Legal & General (LGEN), cutting target to 139p from 165p and a buy for St James's Place (STJ), cutting target to 371p from 447p.
The broker has a neutral for Barclays (BARC), cutting target to 608p from 627p, a neutral for Enodis (ENO), cutting target to 200.3p from 223p and a sell for Signet (SIG), cutting target to 57p from 70p.
HSBC upgrades WS Atkins (ATK) to overweight from neutral, raising target to £14 from £12,95.
KBC Peel Hunt downgrades Lookers (LOOK) to hold from buy and reiterates sell Pendragon (PDG), cutting estimates.
Merrill Lynch downgrades Severn Trent (SVT) to neutral from buy.
Morgan Stanley reiterates overweight Vodafone (VOD), raising target to 205p from 200p and has an overweight for Signet (SIG), cutting target to 95p from 105p.
Panmure has a buy and £11.82 target for Aveva (AVV), upgrades Compass Group (CPG) to hold from sell, has a buy and 300p target for CVS (CVSG), a hold for DSG International (DSGI), cutting target to 125p from 145p, initiates coverage of Immupharma (IMM) with a buy and 194p target, has a hold for Pendragon (PDG), cutting target to 35p from 62p, a buy and 300p target for Premier Foods (PFD), a buy for Sage (SGE), trimming target to 284.2p from 286.2p, a sell for Signet (SIG), cutting target to 60p from 80p, a buy and 525p target for Tesco (TSCO) and a buy and £11.50 target for Wolseley (WOS).
Sanford Bernstein has an outperform for Barclays (BARC), cutting target to 700p from 740p.
Seymour Pierce upgrades Rexam (REX) to outperform from hold with a 550p target, reiterates outperform for Biffa (BIFF) with a 308p target, has an underperform and 205p target for Compass Group (CPG) and an outperform for Reuters (RTR).
UBS upgrades St James's Place (STJ) to buy from neutral, cutting target to 330p from 450p.
NEWS ROUND-UP
Last Night in New York stocks rebounded from the prior session's decline as a $7.5 billion capital infusion for Citigroup offered some relief to the embattled financial sector. The Dow Jones rose 215 points to end at 12,958.4, with all but two of its 30 components ending higher. The S&P gained 21.01 points to 1,428.23, while the technology-laden Nasdaq climbed 39.81 points to 2,580.80.
On this day in:-
1997 - In the House of Commons, a large majority of MP’s approved a Private Member's Bill, introduced by Labour MP Michael Foster, to ban fox hunting.
1967 - In Great Britain, horse racing was suspended after an outbreak of foot and mouth disease among cattle, with a ban on the movement of livestock around the country.
1948 - In the United States, the world's first polaroid cameras went on sale in Boston, Massachussets - developed by Edwin Land.
1948 - In America, 'Hopalong Cassidy' (played by William Boyd) became the first 'cowboy' on television.
1935 - Great Britain's first set of quads - Ann; Ernest; Michael and Paul Miles born in Cambridgeshire.
1919 - Viscountess (Nancy) Astor became Great Britain’s first woman MP, holding a safe Plymouth seat for the Conservative Party in a by-election, caused by her husband's elevation to the peerage. Nancy Astor was born in America.
1905 - Irish political party Sinn Fein was founded in Dublin by Arthur Griffith.
1843 - Great Britain and France formerly recognised the independence of Hawaii.
1821 - Panama declared its independence from Spain and joined the Republic Colombia.
1520 - Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan sailed around the southern tip of South America and reached a new ocean, which he named the Pacific.
