CADIZ TRADERS THREAD

London shares remain higher midday with mining sector continuing strong run
LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares remained higher at midday, with the mining
sector once again strong, while Hilton Group gained ahead of the expected
announcement of the sale of its hotels business, dealers said.
At 11.56 am, the FTSE 100 was up 15.6 points at 5,638.4, with the broader
indices all higher.
Volume was desperately thin, however, with just 371.2 mln shares changing
hands in 58,180 deals.
Looking ahead to Wall Street, US stocks are expected to open higher,
following yesterday's better-than-expected rise in consumer confidence.
Spread-betting firm CMC Markets is calling the Dow to open 11 points higher
at 10,807, with the Nasdaq expected to open up 2 at 1,669.
Oil prices slid ahead of the latest snapshot of crude stockpiles in the US
and amid expectations that OPEC may slash its output ceiling by 1 mln barrels
per day.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, eased
7 cents to 59.75 usd per barrel in electronic trading.
Back in London, mining issues were in favour as precious metals continued
their recent surge, with the gold price hitting 516 usd an ounce.
BHP Billiton rose 14-1/2 to 949-1/2 on the back of a hike in crude oil
prices and a rosy outlook for the range of commodities the world's largest
diversified resources group produces, including copper which reached fresh highs
overnight.
In the same sector, Xstrata was 26 higher at 1,366, while Rio Tinto gained
32 at 2,672, and Anglo American was 19 higher at 1,983.
Elsewhere, Hilton shares added 4-1/2 pence to 369, after this morning's
Financial Times reported that the group will today announce the 6.2 bln usd sale
of its hotels business to Hilton Hotels Corp of the US.
Meanwhile, the recovery in the UK's housing market became more apparent this
morning, as a closely watched survey found net mortgage lending rising to a
16-month high during November.
The British Bankers' Association revealed that seasonally adjusted net
mortgage lending -- gross lending minus repayments and redemptions -- rose by
5.1 bln stg, compared with 4.3 bln in October and 4.1 bln in November 2004.
The news gave the sector a boost, with FTSE 100 constituent Persimmon rising
15 to 1,268, while Bovis Homes was 24 higher at 800, Taylor Woodrow gained 10
pence to 382 and Bellway adding 19 pence to 1,137.
In other news, car retailer Pendragon gained 2 to 518 after saying its 450
mln stg recommended bid for Reg Vardy has received valid acceptances from
shareholders representing 28.3 pct of the shares.
Looking at the smaller caps, Multi Group rose 3/4 to 2-1/2 on news of the
reverse takeover of Global Medics for up to 13.7 mln stg.
Northern Petroleum rallied 5 pence to 48-1/2 after exercising three options
for the development of oil and gas discoveries through its Dutch subsidiary.
Bits Corp dropped 1-3/4 pence to 21 after a disappointing set of interim
results.
Legendary Investments, the vehicle of Joe Bloggs entrepreneur Shami Ahmed,
fell 0.02 pence to 0.11 after revealing widening first-half losses after what
several of the company's investments failed to perform as expected.
Debuting on AIM today, software providing Nasstar was trading at 27 pence, 2
above the placing price.
newsdesk@afxnews.com
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