Positive Prudential profits fail to lift recession-fearing FTSE

The FTSE 100 index remains in uncertain territory this morning despite a brief spell of bargain hunting during the opening hours and a strong interim profits announcement from Prudential (LON:PRU). Neither helped calm the concerns over the state of the global economy, especially after the Bank of England reiterated the moves in the US to downgrade the outlook for the economy.

Prudential has been the headline grabber this morning after reporting better-than-expected operating profits of £1.68bn and a five per cent rise in its half-year dividend. The report would have improved shareholder sentiment following the failed attempt to acquire AIG Insurance’s Asian arm, AIA, which received very little support from investors.

However, despite the strong results and positive outlook for the insurer's shareholders, the share price has fluctuated above and below the previous session’s closing price. At 10:15BST the shares are up 0.4 per cent with a gain of 2.5p.

Another group circulating in news reports this morning is Cairn Energy (LON:CNE). The Edinburgh-based oil and gas exploration company had a share price spike earlier in the week with reports of a potential buyout deal. And similar reports have re-emerged this morning with miner Vedanta Resources (LON:VED) being linked to a transaction involving the oil group. Cairn stock boomed over four per cent this morning, but the price has softened slightly to gains of just 1.3 per cent just after 10:00BST.

Another individual stock getting page space in papers this morning is Vodafone (LON:VOD) after the telecommunications firm backed down in a squabble with customers over software updates for Google Android smartphones. Vodafone appear to be hitting the right buttons this week after announcing the release of the iPhone4 on a pay-as-you-go deal which provided competition beating Wi-Fi quota. The share price is gaining over 1.6 per cent, up 2.55p to 153.30p.

Despite these gains, the FTSE is enduring turbulent times with gains and losses in the range of two per cent already this morning.

Risk-associated stock remains inconsistent amongst investors as banks and miners are losing their appeal.

Banking stock wasn’t helped in the previous session when the Bank of England followed the Federal Reserve by downgrading the outlook for the economy, heightening fears of a global economy slowdown.

Barclays (LON:BARC) has been the standout stock, declining at the rate of 2.1 per cent at 10:30BST. Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) is also attributing to losses with a decline of 0.3 per cent, but Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) is remaining strong, pushing ahead with one per cent gains after Stephen Hester, the Chief Executive, said the bank was on track with its five-year restructuring plan.

Miners littered the FTSE 100 fallers charts with the state of the economy hampering their efforts and a slowdown in China presenting the possibility of less demand for metal imports in the Far East.

At 10:40BST, the FTSE 100 is 0.1 per cent higher at 5,249.36 – a gain of just four points.

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