9:30AM The FTSE 100 climbs by mid-day as oil and mining stocks firm up.
The FTSE 100 was 38.5 points higher, at 6,039.7, by 12.05 pm GMT.

Advancers

Rio Tinto jumped 3.78%, Xstrata gained 3.55%, Antofagasta added 3.27%, Vedanta Resources 4.54%. Oils weren''t far behind on the FTSE 100 risers board, with BP 1.27%, and Royal Dutch Shell 0.62% higher.

Shire stood out with a gain of 10.78% on news that the firm collaborative partner, New River Pharmaceuticals Inc has received an approvable letter from the US FDA for its NRP104 compound for the treatment of paediatric Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

GlaxoSmithKline was 1.04% after news that the firm will this week file for approval in the EU for a radical new breast cancer drug, Tykerb, which can be taken in tablet form.

Decliners

Online gaming group Partygaming was down 0.67% continuing its plunge after news that the US Congress had passed an anti-internet gaming bill, will be demoted to the mid caps.

British Airways also slipped 2.22% hit by news that its commercial director has resigned over the joint UK OFT/US Department of Justice investigation into alleged cartel activity in relation to long-haul passenger fuel surcharges.

ITV dipped 1.71% knocked by news of a downgrade to neutral from buy by UBS in a cautious review of the UK advertising market.

Other news

Evidence that inflationary pressure is fading away behind the scenes in British companies fell away on Monday as factory gate inflation dropped to its lowest level since April 2004. The Office for National Statistics said that manufacturing output price inflation fell from 2.8% in August to 1.8% in September as companies cut prices aggressively in the month on the back of falling oil prices. The monthly change was - 0.3%.


09:00AM Stock futures pointed to a weaker start amid North Korea’s nuclear testing.
Stock market futures traded lower Monday, as investors seemed likely to lock in profits due to concerns about North Korea''s nuclear test and climbing oil prices. Following news that North Korea had successfully carried out an underground nuclear test, the yen dropped to an eight-month low against the dollar, gold and oil prices moved significantly higher and moderately weighed on global stock markets. Crude oil for November delivery climbed nearly 1%t in electronic trading to $60.30 a barrel, as members of the OPEC came closer to the agreement to reduce production. As a result, energy shares advanced, with Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM: chart), up 0.6% in European trading.

In deal news, the Dolan family that controls Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC: chart) offered to buy out the cable operator''s public shareholders in a deal worth about $7.9 billion. Cablevision shares rose 11% before the bell. Shares of PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC: chart) slightly advanced in European trading, as the company agreed to buy Mercantile Bankshares Corp. (MRBK: chart) for $6 billion in cash and stock. Trading on Wall Street is expected to be light as the bond market is closed for the Columbus Day holiday. Standard & Poor''s 500 futures were down 3.3 points, just below fair value Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 25 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures were down 6.5 points.


8:30AM The Dolan family offered to take Cablevision private for $7.9 billion.
Cablevision Corp.''s founding family offered to take the cable-television operator private in a deal valued at $7.9 billion, or $27 for each Cablevision (CVC: chart) share they do not already own. The offer represents about a 13% premium to the stock''s closing price Friday of $23.93 on the New York Stock Exchange. The Dolans would also assume $11.3 billion in debt as part of the leveraged buyout. The New York Times reported that the deal is valued at $19.2 billion, which includes the assumption of debt. The offer comes about 16 months after the Dolans made a bid to buy the company''s cable unit and spin off its other assets. Company’s shares climbed 12% in premarket trading.


8:00AM The PNC Financial Services agreed to buy Mercantile Bankshares for $6 B.
The PNC Financial Services (PNC: chart) agreed to buy Mercantile Bankshares (MRBK: chart) in a deal worth $6 billion, or $47.24 a share, in cash and shares. Mercantile shareholders will receive 0.4184 shares of PNC common stock and $16.45 in cash for each share they own. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs are financial advisors of PNC, while Sandler O''Neill & Partners advised Mercantile. PNC hopes that the takeover will contribute to earnings growth in 2008, and that it has an estimated internal rate of return of approximately 15%. The banks predict the reduction of over $100 million of operating expenses through the elimination of operational and administrative redundancies.