Mining group Vedanta looks an attractive prospect as commodity prices climb

India-focused mining group Vedanta will continue to reap the benefits seen by the resources sector this year as the industry has secured significant increases in prices for commodities like iron ore, ferrochrome and coking coal.

Vedanta, which is controlled by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal, is expanding rapidly and increased production in all of its commodities last year.

The firm's prospects look positive. India continues to develop and consume raw materials, while the company's operations are also close to key resource consumer China. Shares are a buy at 29.21.

The world's largest international broker, ICAP, had a relatively good recession. Despite some mistakes in the past and the challenges ahead, the firm is forecast to be able to increase profits from now on.

The company issued a profits warning earlier this year, largely due to the now closed cash equities business. ICAP should benefit from the increasing move to electronic trading. Investors should buy at 391.3p.

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Office2Office, or o2o, used to be part of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, but was spun out into the private sector and joined the stock market in 2004. Originally an office equipment firm, o2o has now developed to offer a wider range of services, including innovative ways to make government departments more environmentally friendly.

An example of this is a contract with Revenue & Customs, where it collects all the taxman's documents, shreds them on site and takes the shredded paper away to return it later as photocopier paper.

Last year the group delivered pre-tax profits of 12.8m and these are forecast to rise to 13.5m this year. The dividend is expected to rise to 11.7p this year. Shares are a buy at 157p.