JKX.L Share News (JKX)

Having recovered all the way back to last night's closing level shortly after 11:00am the Footsie headed south again for the remainder of the morning as the US futures markets suggested Wall Street will open lower. On a busy day for trading announcements Next is the most conspicuous faller despite saying it expects profits this year will be at the top end of market forecasts after sales in the first three months to April were strong. The fashion retailer said it is still very cautious on the outlook for consumer spending.Budget pub chain JD Wetherspoon is another company cautious about the consumer outlook after seeing a 0.8% dip in like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to April 25. That was sharper than the 0.2% fall in sales seen over the 39 weeks to 25 April. Total sales were up by 3.6% during the 13-week period, short of the 4% rise over the 39 weeks. The shares have fallen out of bed with a bump today, dragging the likes of Enterprise Inns, Greene King and Mitchells & Butlers with them.Insurer Legal & General (L&G) increased sales by 2% during the first quarter and by 18% over the previous three months and says it's on track to deliver £600m of cash in 2010. Worldwide new business on an annual premium equivalent (APE) basis rose to £388m in the three months to 31 March from £382m a year earlier and £330m in the fourth quarter of 2009.L&G's sector peer, Prudential, meanwhile, has had to postpone publication of its prospectus detailing the terms of its $20bn rights issue to fund the $35.5bn acquisition of AIG's Asian (AIA) businesses. The UK firm was due to release its timetable today, but it's still in discussions with the City regulator about the takeover, especially the capital position of the enlarged group under the Insurance Groups Directive (IGD). Miner Xstrata saw higher production in all of its main commodity businesses in the first three months of 2010. Ferrochrome production rose by more than 300%, coal production increased by 9% to 21.7m tonnes and mined copper production was 3% higher. Elsewhere in the mining sector BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto claw back some of yesterday's heavy losses that were suffered in reaction to the Australian government's proposals to introduce a new resource rent tax that is expected to hit mining companies that operate in Australia.Another stock on the recovery trail is oil giant BP. The company has had a torrid time of it with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the share price has plummeted accordingly. Panmure Gordon thinks the share price reaction has now been overdone and has switched its rating on the stock from "sell" to "buy". It has lifted its price target from 496p to 600p.With the market in retreat boring old utilities such as United Utilities and Scottish & Southern Energy are seeing some support.Better control of costs enabled accountancy software giant Sage to post a healthy rise in interim profits, though sales fell again albeit a slower rate than this time last year.Software group Logica saw some positive trends during the first quarter, but still expects revenues to fall "modestly" in the first half and remain steady for the full year. Property website Rightmove said it is confident of meeting its improved expectations after a strong start to 2010.Lower room rates helped Millennium and Copthorne fill up its hotels in the first quarter, resulting in an improvement in profits and revenues.Eastern Europe focused JKX Oil & Gas has started the year positively with good progress made on all development and exploration assets during the first quarter, but the shares fell today as oil prices slid again.Property company Liberty International's last trading update before its planned split into separate companies was a relatively upbeat affair. 'We have seen a much lower level of retailer failures than the first quarter of 2009,' the company said.FTSE 100 - RisersRio Tinto (RIO) 3,261.00p +3.11%Fresnillo (FRES) 784.50p +2.75%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,896.50p +1.69%BP (BP.) 567.40p +1.59%Home Retail Group (HOME) 272.90p +1.49%Burberry Group (BRBY) 670.00p +1.21%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,480.00p +1.20%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 51.35p +1.18%United Utilities Group (UU.) 540.50p +0.84%Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,097.00p +0.73%FTSE 100 - FallersWhitbread (WTB) 1,472.00p -3.16%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 280.20p -3.15%Bunzl (BNZL) 740.00p -2.63%Next (NXT) 2,200.00p -2.53%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,854.50p -2.50%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,923.00p -2.31%Carnival (CCL) 2,716.00p -2.27%International Power (IPR) 325.60p -2.19%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,272.00p -2.15%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 1,702.00p -2.13%