The top share index finished flat but it was an unusually busy day on the corporate news front with big movements in both directions.

BHP Billiton fell after the company, best known as a miner, said it is increasing its oil and gas activities with the $12.1bn (£7.5bn) purchase of Texas and Louisiana-focused firm Petrohawk.

Publishing, events and electronic information group Euromoney roared ahead after saying it has been trading in line with management expectations since its interim results were announced on 19 May. Total revenues for the quarter to June 30, 2011 - the third quarter of the group's financial year - increased by 4% to £102.0m, driven by another strong performance from the group's event businesses.

Rail and bus company FirstGroup was in the fast lane after saying it is persuading more people to use its rail services. The group saw 8.5% year-on-year (yoy) like-for-like (lfl) growth in passenger revenues in its UK rail business in the second quarter of 2011, as it said the company had traded in line in the first quarter (April to June) of its fiscal year. Peer National Express is also higher.


Credit checking firm Experian saw organic revenue growth of 6% in the second quarter of 2011, and continues to anticipate organic revenue growth in the mid-high single digit range over the full-year. Total revenue growth from continuing activities was 10%.

Spectris, which develops precision instrumentation and controls to help firms improve their productivity, expects sales for the first half of 2011 to be more than a fifth higher than the same period last year.

Tullow Oil has discovered with the Makore-1 exploration well on the West Cape Three Points Block, off the Republic of Ghana. The operator of the well found plenty of water but precious little oil in its test drilling, but the shares still rose.

But shares in Salamander Energy fell back after the Southeast Asia-focused oil and gas group Salamander said it is abandoning its Dao Ruang-3 well off Thailand after analysis of data from drilling showed it "would have limited potential as a producer."

Electrocomponents, the FTSE 250 firm which supplies electronic products and provides maintenance services, fell after it saw revenue rise 14% in its first reporting quarter.

Publisher Future, which is behind hobby magazines such as Classic Rock and Guitar World, slumped after saying it expects its earnings before interest and taxation for the full year to be £2m less than expected after disappointing sales in the US. The poor performance has prompted the company to accelerate its transformation into a mainly digital business.

International jewellery designer and manufacturer, Abbeycrest, slumped after it said it would need to renegotiate its debt facilities in the coming months. The company said that in May 2011 it had agreed revised and extended facilities with its lenders in the UK and Thailand.

Water purification technology firm, Halo Source, said first half revenue fell by 9% versus the first half of 2010. The company said revenues had grown slower than expected and revised its expectations for 2011 revenue to be in the $18-$22m range.

Healthcare software provider Advanced Computer Software Group (ACS) has clinched a partnership deal with Vodafone UK to supply its iNurse mobile phone application for nurses, giving them access to patient records on a smartphone.

Outdoor recreational retailer Blacks Leisure slumped after saying it is extending its bank facility to £40m as it battles against challenging retail market conditions. It wasn't helped by the broker finnCap slashing its price target on the group to 1p from 10p.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,577.00p +4.16%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,294.00p +1.97%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,473.00p +1.94%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 709.50p +1.94%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,625.00p +1.88%
John Wood Group (WG.) 683.50p +1.41%
Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 320.90p +1.23%
GKN (GKN) 239.00p +1.10%
Old Mutual (OML) 131.20p +1.08%
Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) 1,414.00p +1.07%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Inmarsat (ISAT) 535.00p -3.25%
Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 642.50p -2.50%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 44.69p -2.48%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,844.00p -1.97%
BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,340.00p -1.93%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,157.00p -1.87%
ARM Holdings (ARM) 564.00p -1.83%
ITV (ITV) 66.70p -1.77%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,329.00p -1.56%
WPP (WPP) 706.50p -1.53%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 655.00p +10.08%
FirstGroup (FGP) 350.60p +6.31%
St James's Place (STJ) 370.00p +3.70%
Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 115.70p +3.30%
Exillon Energy (EXI) 443.90p +3.23%
Enterprise Inns (ETI) 60.10p +3.18%
ITE Group (ITE) 235.50p +3.02%
Provident Financial (PFG) 1,018.00p +2.88%
Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 135.80p +2.80%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,910.00p +2.61%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Home Retail Group (HOME) 142.20p -6.26%
Betfair Group (BET) 646.00p -5.28%
Chemring Group (CHG) 562.00p -4.18%
Premier Foods (PFD) 20.91p -3.46%
Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 45.24p -3.44%
Mondi (MNDI) 623.50p -3.41%
AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 272.70p -3.37%
Ultra Electronics Holdings (ULE) 1,626.00p -3.33%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 861.00p -3.04%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 165.50p -2.99%

Related share prices
BHP Billiton (BLT) share price
Electrocomponents (ECM) share price
Spectris (SXS) share price
Abbeycrest (ACR) share price
Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) share price
Tullow Oil (TLW) share price
Future (FUTR) share price
Experian (EXPN) share price
Advanced Computer Software Group (ASW) share price
Salamander Energy (SMDR) share price
HaloSource Inc. (DI) (HALO) share price
HaloSource Inc. (Reg S) (HAL) share price