London's blue chips have opened firmer after yesterday's rebound by Wall Street.

Royal Bank of Scotland is going well on a report in the FT that the state-owned bank has drawn up a shortlist for two key businesses that are expected to fetch about £4bn.

BP, though, is lower with investors still concerned by the venomous attack on chief executive Tony Hayward from the US president yesterday, while Norway's temporary ban on North Sea drilling has not helped the mood.

Financial software provider Misys has soared away on its plan to return more than $1bn to shareholders after selling the majority of its stake in its Allscripts subsidiary. The sale of shares by Misys will enable Allscripts to proceed with its planned merger with US healthcare information technology firm Eclipsys.

Volatility in foreign exchange and equity markets and growth in all of its areas of business boosted spread better IG Group's fourth quarter and full year. For the year to May, IG expects to report revenue up 16% to approximately £298m (2009: £257m) and adjusted profit before tax up 25% to £157m (2009: £125.9m).

Online clothes retailer ASOS reported a whopping 44% increase in full year pre-tax profit while revenue surged 35% as UK and International online demand accelerated. "The widely predicted slowdown in consumer spending, specifically amongst the younger customer groups did not materialise and the Internet continued its strong growth as a retail channel," said chairman Lord Waheed Alli.

Tullow Oil has found oil at its Mahogany-5 appraisal well immediately to the southeast of the Jubilee field offshore Ghana, making it four out of five strikes in the region.

UK Commercial Property Trust and F&C Commercial Property, two of the UK's largest commercial property investment trusts, are merging to form the sixth largest UK listed property company.

Western Coal has launched a recommended all-share offer for AIM-listed Energybuild, a miner of Welsh anthracite and coal, worth £54.4m. Energybuild shareholders will get 0.0833 Western shares for every Energybuild share they own, valuing them at about 24p each.

Related share prices
BP (BP.) share price
Misys (MSY) share price
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Tullow Oil (TLW) share price
ASOS (ASC) share price
Western Coal Corp. (WTN) share price
F&C Commercial Property Trust Ltd. (FCPT) share price
IG Group Holdings (IGG) share price
Energybuild (EBG) share price