Markets: Japanese fears hit FTSE 100
17:01 - An unsteady start turned into a fully-fledged tumble for the FTSE 100 (UKX) on Monday, as investors' nerves rattled over the impact of the devastating events in Japan.
London's benchmark share index ended the day 53 points lower at 5775, with fashion retailer Burberry (BRBY) the immovable object at the foot of the index.
Also struggling were engineer AMEC (AMEC) and insurer Aviva (AV.), while Aggreko (AGK) leapt over 8% to top the winners' board after it said it would provide Japan with some of its self-contained gas and diesel generators.
As the markets remain apprehensive over the impact of Japan's disaster, Sarah Modlock asks: How hard will business be hit by Japan quake?
At a glance...
Commodities
Gold: $1,423.80
WTI crude oil: $100.13
Currencies
GBP/USD: 1.6169
GBP/EUR: 1.1558
EUR/USD: 1.3988
16:43 - The picture on Wall Street remained bleak as trading entered midday across the Pond.
Firms with exposure to Japan - including General Electric (GE) and Walt Disney (DIS) - were heading the losses, as the Dow Jones nursed a triple-digit fall.
The Dow was 141 points lower at 11903, with the Nasdaq down 31 at 2684 and the S&P 500 falling 17 to 1287.
16:30 - Estate agencies group Winkworth (WINK) said trading in January and February had been in line with its expectations after "a year of two halves" in 2010. Overall transactions were up by 22% and new office transactions up by 98%.
Launch of the country house department at the end of 2010 has so far resulted in £14 million of instructions, 16 referrals and three sales.
Winkworth said it expected the UK property market would be broadly flat in 2011 as lack of mortgage finance continued to constrain activity, with some price growth in prime markets and, in particular, the family house market.
16:21 - Green technology company TEG Group (TEG) dubbed trading in 2010 as "pleasing", after its full-year revenues shot up 35% to £20.7 million.
The company said it continues to have a strong pipeline of tender opportunities and "anticipates the successful conclusion of further projects in 2011".
It added that market demand remained strong, prompting it to say it had expected strong trading for the remainder of the year.
16:09 - Specialist construction and engineering services provider Renew Holdings (RNWH) is to record a restructuring charge of £3.5 million in 2011 as it plans to withdraw from the non-specialist building market.
The company, which recently acquired Amco to expand its engineering operations, said it plans to withdraw from building in the north of England after completing its existing contracts by the end of this year.
Renew also said the restructuring would reduce its 2012 building revenue by about £60 million with no impact on its profits.
15:55 - Clean energy producer Kedco (KED) managed to rein in its losses in 2010 as a result of tighter cost control and increased sales.
The company said operating losses were €0.5 million in the six months ended 31 December, down from €1.2 million in 2009.
Meanwhile, revenues rose 30% to €5.4 million in what it called "significant progress".
15:43 - Mediterranean Oil and Gas (MOG) said its Guendalina gas field in Italy continues to be on track to deliver first gas in September 2011.
So far, construction of the jacket has been completed and should be installed in two weeks' time, the company added.
The drilling campaign for two wells is expected to commence later this month, with a four-month window for completion.
15:26 - Shares in AIM-quoted Summit Corporation (SUMM) were flying on Monday after the firm revealed positive non-clinical efficacy results for SMT C1100, a treatment for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).
DMD is caused by the loss of a protein called dystrophin which results in the degeneration of all skeletal muscles and causes damage to the heart.
There is no cure for the disease, but orally administered, SMT C1100 appears to be of therapeutic benefit. The tests were made on muscle cells harvested from DMD patients.
Summit needs to raise cash in order to finance phase I clinical trials.
15:10 - Allied Gold () has good news for investors on Monday with the announcement of a sharp surge in inferred mineral resources at the Botlu deposite on its wholly-owned Simberi gold mine in Papua New Guinea.
The resource definition drilling led to a 271,000 ounce increase to 429,000 ounces, the AIM-listed company said.
The estimated measured and indicated resources at Simberi now stand at 80.4 million tonnes @1.26 grammes per tonne (g/t), with additional inferred resources at 91.9 million tonnes of one g/t.
14:51 - Utilities firms were the biggest victims on US markets at the start of the week, on concerns about the impact of the Japanese earthquake.
General Electric (GE) was leading the losses on the back of the fact it designed the reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which has suffered explosions.
The Dow Jones slipped 75 points to 11969, while the Nasdaq fell 15 to 2700 and the S&P 500 dropped nine to 1295.
14:30 - Rockhopper Exploration (RKH) was on the front foot today after it announced it has entered into an agreement to secure three firm additional well slots on the Ocean Guardian drilling rig.
AIM-listed Rockhopper said it intends to utilise the three well slots after fellow explorer Desire Petroleum (DES) has completed its drilling operations on its next well.
For more, read: Three more Falkland well slots for Rockhopper.
14:05 - WS Atkins (ATK) is paying £785,000 for the Technical Services Scotland (TSS) consultancy and technical support team from RWE npower's Bellshill Technical Services Group.
The 29-strong TSS team will add expertise in electrical and process engineering, control and instrumentation, metallurgy and site-based testing and diagnostics for power generation facilities to the engineering contractor.
TSS also brings expertise in biomass generation and in establishing grid connections to wind farms, the company added. Atkins acquires complementary skills in the power generation sector.
13:44 - Egdon Resources (EDR) has now completed its acquisition of Valhalla Oil and Gas' entire 50% interest in UK licences PEDL180 and 181.
The consideration for the deal, which was announced in January, is the grant of a new profit interest of 10% to Valhalla, the AIM-listed company added.
Both licences are situated adjacent to Egdon's operated licences PEDL 182 and PEDL241. PEDL180 contains the Wressle prospect, which extends into PEDL182 where the Broughton oil discovery is located.
Egdon Resources said the acquisition was "in line with our UK offshore growth strategy", before adding that it was currently developing plans for possible 3D seismic acquisition over the Broughton-Wressle structures later this year.
13:13 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) remained in the red as trading went on today, as the impact of Japan's earthquake weighed on sentiment.
London's leading share index was down 17 points at 5811, with Burberry (BRBY) still stuck holding the wooden spoon over concerns Japan's luxury goods demand was set to fall.
On the other side of the coin, temporary power supplier Aggreko (AGK) was the day's biggest winner - up almost 6% - after it said it would supply Japan with some of its self-contained gas and diesel generators.
For more on the aftermath of the disaster, read: How hard will business be hit by Japan quake?
12:50 - AIM-listed investment banking group Shore Capital (SGR) announced that it has led an investor group which has acquired a controlling interest in German telecoms business Deutsche Broadband Dienste (DHB).
The investors have formed a new company by the name of Spectrum Investments to purchase the 58% stake, with a view to broadening the DHB's offering by adding telecom services to business customers, including mobile operators.
In turn, Shore Capital has invested €2.885 million to acquire a majority interest in Spectrum.
12:28 - Nautical Petroleum (NPE) has signed a rig contract for the next bout of drilling activity on the Kraken discovery in the UK continental shelf.
The WilHunt rig has been engaged to drill a horizontal appraisal well and carry out a production test during the summer of 2011, the AIM-listed oil explorer said.
The key purpose of the well will be to prove a commercial flow rate and gather further information on reservoir quality and distribution.
12:00 - The announcement that AIM-listed coal producer Atlantic Coal (ATC) is set to beef up its portfolio with an option to buy an anthracite mining property in Pennsylvania was applauded by the markets on Monday.
The 158-acre property, located in Luzerne County, could house up to 12 million tonnes of colliery spoil, estimated to contain 10-15% of recoverable coal and over one million tonnes of coal silt on surface, the company said.
For the full story, read: Atlantic Coal boosted by portfolio plans.
11:36 - Bank of America Merrill Lynch has revised its oil projections for the year upwards on the back of ongoing fighting in Libya.
The bank has raised its target for Brent Oil to $108 a barrel for 2011, from $86 a barrel previously.
It warned: "With uncertainty over oil production in MENA remaining high, we still see a probability for oil quotations to average between $125 and $160 a barrel over the next 12 months."
For more on the region and the unrest's impact on markets, read Ken Fisher's view: Making sense of MENA.
11:11 - Europa Oil and Gas (EOG) hailed test production results from well WF-9 on its West Firsby operations as "encouraging" after they compared extremely favourably with the previous well's production data.
Well WF-9 had its lower reservoir zone, zone 2, tested for five days and produced at an average pumped rate of 80 barrels of per day with only 5% water and high volumes of associated gas. This compared to high water and lower gas volumes at well WF-7, it added.
The well will be reconfigured this week to separately test the productivity of reservoir zone 1.
10:48 - The dispute between British oil major BP (BP.) and its Russian partners over the Rosneft deal took a turn for the worse at the weekend after a board meeting in Paris failed to reach a compromise.
Directors at TNK-BP, a 50-50 joint venture between BP and the Russian consortium Alfa-Access-Renova, met on Saturday in a bid to resolve the ongoing disagreement between the two sides concerning BP's $16 billion share swap and Arctic exploration venture with Rosneft, announced at the start of the year.
For the full story, read: BP dispute with TNK-BP rumbles on.
10:23 - Fashion retailer Burberry (BRBY) was feeling the effect of the Japanese earthquake on Monday, amid fears demand in the country would tumble.
Japan is the world's second-largest consumer of luxury goods and shares in Burberry were rooted to the foot of the FTSE 100 index in morning trading.
10:06 - AIM-listed Hambledon Mining (HMB) is proposing to raise up to £9.09 million through a share placing.
The gold miner will place 227,329.873 new ordinary shares at a price of 4p as it seeks to upgrade surface infrastructure at its Sekisovskoye operations in East Kazakhstan.
Hambledon said the improvements are needed to achieve the long term security of electrical supply, with works expected to get under this way.
09:42 - Irish oil and gas explorer Providence Resources (PVR) announced that its partner Chrysaor has doubled its equity stake in the Spanish Point area in return for the drilling of up to two appraisal wells.
Chrysaor has exercised its pre-agreed option to increase its stake in the FEL 2/04 and adjacent FEL 4/08 licences off the west coast of Ireland from 30% to 60%, following the analysis of the 2009 3D seismic data.
For more, read: Providence eyes drilling in Spanish Point.
09:20 - The London Stock Exchange has confirmed ITV (ITV), Wood Group (WG.) and Hargreaves Lansdowne (HL.) will enter the FTSE 100 at the close of play on Friday.
The trio will be replacing the ousted African Barrick Gold (ABG), Alliance Trust (ATST) and Bunzl (BNZL), who will all enter the FTSE 250.
09:01 - It was a bleak start to the week for the FTSE 100 (UKX), as insurers and tobacco firms struggled on Monday.
London's leading share index was down 25 points at 5803, with fashion retailer Burberry (BRBY) adrift at the foot of the index.
The FTSE 100 was short on corporate updates today, so it's to the mid caps we start our day, with Bovis (BVS).
Pre-tax profit more than doubled to £18.5 million in the year to end-December, with revenue rising from £281.5 million to £298.6 million.
Bovis also cheered investors with the reinstatement of its dividend, giving investors a 3p-per-share payment for the year.
For the full story, read: Bovis reinstates dividend as profit doubles.
At a glance...
Asian markets
Nikkei 225: 9620 (down 634)
Hang Seng 23346 (up 96)
Shanghai Composite: 3076 (up four)
Commodities
Gold: $1,424.60
WTI crude oil: $99.87
Currencies
GBP/USD: 1.6062
GBP/EUR: 1.1547
EUR/USD: 1.3910
08:00 - The FTSE 100 (UKX) begins the week at 5828.
