Headline shares recovered momentum in midday trade, as rallies in mining stocks and banks outweighed weakness amongst oil majors caused by BP's ongoing problems with the US oil spillage. At high noon, the FTSE100 was up 19.27 points at 5,105.13 with the FTSE250 ahead 52.09 points at 9,539.27 and the FTSE Smallcaps 3.39 points lower at 2,719.34. US stock market futures moved higher after pleasing economic data out of China, and ahead of interest rate decisions in the UK and Eurozone. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 90 points at 9,993, S&P500 futures climbed 12 points to 1,067.5 and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 17 at 1,799.25.

LONDON MARKETS

As widely anticipated, the BoE Monetary Policy Committee today elected to maintain UK base interest rate at 0.5% and keep QE at £200bn.

Blue chips turned slightly higher by midday as news of rising exports and imports in China encouraged the idea that demand for goods and services was improving. This offset the dampening effect of BP's demise.

Oil producer BP (LON:BP.) saw shares tumbling following a major sell-off in the US overnight as the oil spill problems take on an increasingly political hue. BP shares were down 15.45p at 376.1p in London at midday, a thirteen-year low. BP shares have been supported today by the recommendations from a number of major brokers, although target prices have been trimmed. The performance was felt across the sector, with Shell sliding 18.5p at 1,684.5p and BG Group (LON:BG.) down 4p at 1,060.5p. Meanwhile, crude traded close to $75 a barrel.

Retailers were in focus as Argos and Homebase owner Home Retail Group Plc (LON:HOME) Group unveiled a slide in sales at its catalogue business with margins squeezed by rising shipping costs. Home Retail shares slumped 10.5p at 227.5p. Rival DIY specialist Kingfisher (LON:KGF) eased 0.5p at 217.5p.

Conversely midcap autoparts and cycle retailer Halfords Group (LON:HFD) jumped 35.2p at 535p after announcing a 25% rise in dividend as sales and profits soared in the year to 2nd April.

Cigarette manufacturers were out of favour, with BAT off 4.5p at 2,143.5p and Imperial Tobacco Group (LON:IMT) down 9p at 1,901p.

On the upside with blue chips, chipmaker ARM Holdings topped the leaderboard, ahead 29.6p at 303.6p, while commercial software house Autonomy added 66p…

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Unlock with Email
Unlock with Google

Already have an account?
Login here