Brokers are rushing to knock Connaught after its warning

Shares in the social housing maintenance company plunged 61.7p to 153.3p, following hefty losses late on Friday when it warned that public spending cuts would hit revenues.

Today, brokers rushed in to give the group a further kicking, with Collins Stewart, Investec and Panmure Gordon advising dumping the shares.

Panmure said: "The company has come under much scrutiny due to concerns about accounting, IT investment and certain contracts, as well as the resignation of previous chief executive Mark Davies. This profit warning leaves us with less faith."

Shares in London rose in a quiet day of trading, where most of the volume came from the banks. The FTSE 100 added 22.44 points to 5068.91 after enduring a near-4% loss last week.

"By 11 o'clock, I had only done two trades," said one trader. "I suppose some clients were out for football yesterday and they're not up yet but no one seems to want to do anything at the moment."

BP was the best-performing blue-chip, climbing 11¼p to 316p and contributing around a third of the index's gains. Despite a soaring bill from the Gulf of Mexico disaster, the oil giant rose on investors' hopes that the leak will be plugged earlier than initially hoped.

They were also relieved by news that tropical storm Alex was likely to strike far away from where the catastrophe occurred. Meanwhile, traders also cited hopes that, after the G20 meeting of world leaders, the company would not be allowed to go bust.

Recent Footsie entrant Essar Energy advanced 8.7p to 459.4p after JPMorgan Cazenove said the company will be a beneficiary of the Indian government's move to deregulate the fuel market. The heavyweight broker highlighted plans for the complete deregulation of gasoline prices and a reduction in controls over the price of diesel, which should prompt price rises. It has initiated coverage on the stock with an overweight rating.

Miners were better as investors moved into riskier punts. Fresnillo, the subject of wild bid talk in recent months, climbed 33p to 1036p, while Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation was up 23½p at 954p.

Kazakhmys received the thumbs-up from Citigroup, pushing its shares up 26p to 1093p. The miner is also said to be in talks to sell its German copper plants.

Banks mostly made modest gains after world leaders agreed rules to force lenders to hold more capital to protect against a future meltdown, but signalled delays before they would take effect. HSBC put on 0.3p to 642.1p, Barclays was 1p dearer at 282.2p and Lloyds Banking Group added ½p to 54.7p. It came as Nomura said that Britain's banks are "turning the corner" and that it prefers Lloyds to Royal Bank of Scotland, off ½p at 44p.

Emerging markets-focused lender Standard Chartered was also suffering, retreating 45½p to 1696½p, after admitting that demand in its wholesale banking operation had been hit by economic uncertainty.

On Aim, internet fashion retailer Asos lost 8½p to 893.2p after Singer Capital Markets advised ditching the shares.