Rio Tinto up on new Chinalco talks

The FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:.FTSE) is 0.92% up at 4,895.67 largely on the back of a good showing by the miners. Mining giant Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) is reportedly in talks with the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) over co-operation in bauxite and alumina production. The Australian Financial Review newspaper quoted Rio Tinto’s chief financial officer Guy Elliott as saying the talks are at a very early stage. The development indicates a thaw in relations between the two companies after Rio Tinto controversially bowed to shareholder pressure earlier this year and pulled out of a deal with Chinalco that would have seen the Chinese state-owned company pump $19.5bn into Rio in return for a chunky equity stake. Rio Tinto shares are up by close to 5% Fresnillo (LON:FRES) is also up strongly this morning on the back of sector strength. Oil services group Petrofac lifted its dividend for the six months to June 30 as revenues and profits rose in spite on the sharp drop in oil prices from the same period the previous year. Distribution and outsource specialist Bunzl reported a rise in interim pre-tax profits but warned that the challenging economic environment will continue to put pressure on underlying sales and profitability. Housebuilder Bovis saw profits drop sharply in the half year due to the adverse impact from significantly lower home sales prices, though private legal completions grew by 18%. Chemicals company Yule Catto expects full-year results to be slightly ahead of expectations after a solid first half. Underlying profit before tax, which excludes certain items, rose by 14% to ?19.9m in the six months to 30 June 2009 from ?17.4m in the first half of last year. Engineer and construction contractor Balfour Beatty has bagged a road building contract in Fort Worth, Texas. Its US civil engineering subsidiary has been selected to work on phase four of the State Highway 161 Tollway project. Defence technology group QinetiQ has secured a AUS$23m contract from the Australian Department of Defence for TALON robots and replacement parts to support Australian Defence Forces deployed on operations. Under siege oil and gas company Venture Production has announced farm-in agreements with two companies on some of its acreage in the southern North Sea.