London afternoon: Markets continue to struggle

It remains a struggle for blue chips today with US markets unlikely to give much help as futures point to an early fall.

Investors are now nervous about a Conference Board report on consumer confidence in the world's number one economy later today.

Here, GfK NOP's consumer confidence index came in at -18 in August, better than the previous month but still at a similar level to May 2009, when the UK was still in recession.

Miners are leading the retreat with ENRC and Kazakhmys among the worst affected, though there are declines across the sector.

Bunzl is one of the better performers after half-year results bang in line with expectations. A recovery in North American revenues offset ongoing weakness at the distribution and outsourcing group's business in the UK & Ireland. Profit before tax, intangible amortisation and acquisition related costs increased 8% to £125.1m.

AstraZeneca is mulling its options over fledgling respiratory treatment motavizumab after US regulators asked for more data on its efficacy. Better news for Reckitt Benckiser after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the manufacture and market Suboxone sub-lingual film in the US.

Encore Oil has described as "superb" the latest drilling results from it Cladhan appraisal well located in UK Northern North Sea block 210/29a. "This is a superb result from Cladhan and is at the upper end of our expectations regarding the quality and quantity of reservoir sands," chief executive Alan Booth said.

BTG, the specialty pharmaceuticals outfit, expects product revenue to be higher than expected this year after doing a deal to become the sole supplier of a pair of life-saving drugs from 1 October. Nycomed US Inc's contract as the exclusive distributor of CroFab and DigiFab in the US expires on 30 September, but it's allowed to keep selling whatever supplies it has left for another six months.

Higher prices outweighed lower production in the first half for Africa-focused oil group Afren as it moved strongly into profit. The group posted net income of $50.7m compared with a loss of $38.5m as revenues rose to $215m from $155m.

Online gaming giant 888 Holdings' trading in August has been significantly stronger than in July but it was not all good news for shareholders, as the company cancelled its interim dividend. Total operating income in the first half of 2010 rose to $130.2m from $117/9m the year before. Underlying earnings tumbled to $12.6m from $20.6m.