London midday: Footsie trades sideways

Footsie has traded sideways all morning with traders cautious after yesterday's surge in share and commodity prices. Predictions of a quiet start on Wall Street have added to the low key mood.Supermarket Sainsbury's is off a few points after a 4.6% rise in like-for-like sales excluding fuel in the quarter to 3 October came in lower than expected. Excluding the impact of the VAT cut, like-for-like sales in the quarter, the second of the company's financial year, were up by 5.4%, marginally below the 5.5% level predicted by Numis Securities.Tesco and Morrisons, both weakened on the comments from Sainsbury boss Justin King who warned that he expects market growth to slow in the coming months due to reduced inflation.Also on the slide is insurer Admiral which is trading ex-dividend today.Intercontinental Hotels is one of the best risers after an upgrade from Citigroup to 'buy' from 'hold'. A new higher price target from Panmure Gordon of 910p also helped. The broker said that there were early signs of a recovery in the business travel market and it is hopeful over the relaunch of the Holiday Inn brand. Gold miner Randgold Resources is wanted after gold hit a new all-time high yesterday while silver specialist Fresnillo, which also has some gold interests, is also on the up.Elsewhere in the mining sector Kazakhmys is tending firmer after Goldman Sachs issued a bullish note on commodity prices; the Kazakh mining company is on Goldman's conviction buy list.Sausages and pork products supplier Cranswick said sales were strongly ahead at the interim stage, helped by a contribution from the recently acquired Bowes of Norfolk. Sales in the six months to 30 September rose by 19% from a year earlier, with 7% attributable to the contribution from Bowes, Cranwsick, one of whose main customers is Sainsbury's, said.White collar recruiter Michael Page made a third quarter operating profit and noted 'increasing degrees of stabilisation across our regions' in the last three months. Its Asia Pacific and Americas regions both recorded sequential growth.Defence outfit Cobham has won two orders from global security firm Northrop Grumman for digital vehicle intercom systems. The orders are worth $40m and are for the ongoing provision of Cobham's ROVIS (AN/VIC-3) digital intercom systems to the US army.Struggling Irish airline Aer Lingus is to cut a further 676 jobs as part of a swingeing cost cutting programme designed to reduce operating costs by €97m by the end of 2011. The job cuts are in addition to 100 staff on fixed term contracts who will leave at the end of the year. The shares are up on hopes Ryanair will make a third bid suggested analysts.With expensive home improvements low on most householders' list of priorities, luxury wallpaper and fabrics group Walker Greenbank posted a sharp drop in profits as revenues fell. Investors took heart, however, from chairman Terry Stannard's assertion that sales trends appear to be improving.Chocolate maker and retailer Thorntons had a solid three months to end September with sales up by 2.3% to £46.8m despite a big customer going under.Traders who took a punt on online bookmaker Sportingbet's results were rewarded when the company announced a surge in annual pre-tax profit after strong demand from Europe. The bookie, which has reinstated dividend payments, said the new financial year has started well.