Headline shares retained strong broad-based early gains at midday, with a firm rally in mining stocks underpinning the market and financial issues lending support, with BA climbing on strike ban news. At high noon, the FTSE100 was up 45.78 points at 5,308.32 with the FTSE250 ahead 43.14 points at 9,975.17 and the FTSE Smallcaps 2.73 points better at 2,858.84. In New York, US stock futures were slightly higher ahead of housing starts and producer prices data for April. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 14 points, S&P500 futures gained 1.5 points at 1,136 and Nasdaq 100 futures were up 2 points to 1,915.5.

LONDON MARKETS

London equity markets enjoyed firm broad-based gains in morning trade, with financial stocks, miners and property firms all making good progress. News of disappointing inflation figures had only minimal impact. Hedge fund manager Man Group (LON:EMG) headed the leaderboard early on, rallying 11.1p at 213p, investors shrugging off news that the EU is likely to go ahead today with a new regime of regulation.

Banks were also buoyant, with Barclays (LON:BARC) the best of the bunch, up 5.3p at 310p. Lloyds recovered 0.61p at 57.91p and Royal Bank Of Scotland Group Plc (LON:RBS) added 0.46p at 47.22p.

A return to profit at British Land gave the commercial property firms a welcome boost. The REIT said IFRS profit before tax was £1.128bn in the year to end-March, compared to a loss of £3.928bn the previous year. British Land shares jumped 13.1p at 446.4p, while Land Securities Group Plc (LON:LAND) added 11.5p at 631.5p and Hammerson Plc (LON:HMSO) gained 5.5p at 358p.

British Airways (LON:BAY) climbed 2.1p at 202.6p in the wake of the High Court decision to ban the proposed strike by cabin crew on technical grounds. That, and the improvement in the ash cloud situation, also gave some tour operators confidence, with Tui Travel Plc (LON:TT.) up 1.9p at 250p and Carnival (LON:CCL) 41p higher at 2,742p. Thomas Cook Group Plc (LON:TCG) missed the boat, down 0.3p at 217.6p.  Hoteliers also benefited, with Whitbread (LON:WTB) gaining 6p at 1,412p and InterContinental rising 3p at 1,131p.

Mining issues made firm gains, led by Xstrata Plc (LON:XTA), up 22.2p at 1,011p. Anglo American (LON:AAL) jumped 53.5p at 2,647.5p and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) gained 36.5p at 1,932p.…

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