Headline shares remained firmly higher at midday, although off best levels following disappointing trade deficit data, with a flurry of upbeat company results helping to keep the main index ahead. At high noon, the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:.FTSE) was up 37.37 points at 5,420.8 with the FTSE250 ahead 82.3 points at 10,269.2 and the FTSE Smallcaps 3.31 points lower at 2,881.23. In New York, US stock futures edged lower, investors remaining nervous over sovereign debt issues. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures dipped 14 points, S&P500 futures slid 2.1 points at 1,167 and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 5.5 points at 1,967.2

LONDON MARKETS

The London markets took heart from strong gains in New York and across Asia overnight, as European debt concerns eased and the BoE made positive statements following the outline announcement of the new UK government austerity plans. Worse-than-expected UK trade deficit data took the gloss off the rally.

Telecoms giant BT Group (LON:BT.A) was the runaway leader, up 11.7p at 132.2p after full-year results came in ahead of expectations. Supermarket operator Sainsbury was another success story, up 10.6p at 338.6p on revealing underlying pretax profits rose to £610m, slightly ahead of forecasts. Tesco (LON:TSCO) added 2.9p at 423.95p and Morrisons rose 3.4p at 273p on the read across. Staying with retail, midcap electrical retailer Dsg International (LON:DSGI) gained 1.75p at 30.05p after reporting group sales in the second half were up 8% and like for like sales were up 6%.

Financial stocks were well-represented by fund managers in the gainers list, with private equity group 3i (LON:III) the best of them, ahead 20.8p at 289p on reporting a 15% return on its portfolio in the year to end-March. Hedge fund manager Man Group (LON:EMG) advanced 2.2p at 230p and Schroders (LON:SDR) added 13p at 1,433p.

Insurer Old Mutual (LON:OML) ticked up 0.9p at 119.9p when it said annual premium equivalent sales were up 21% to £397m in the three months to March. Thomas Cook Group Plc (LON:TCG) promoted the holiday spirit, up 3.9p at 236.1p after it revealed average selling prices were up by 7% and 12% in the UK and Northern Europe, respectively. Peer Tui Travel Plc (LON:TT.) slipped 2.5p at 262.5p in response but cruise operator Carnival (LON:CCL) added 30p at 2,782p.

Oil industry service groups, Amec…

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