London midday: Stocks surge after UK production data

10th Jul 2012 11:53

- UK industrial production beats estimates- Eurogroup gives Spain more time- Oil stocks rise after Norwegian lockout preventedLondon's FTSE 100 index rose strongly on Tuesday morning with resource stocks and banks providing a lift after some better-than-expected UK industrial production data.UK industrial production rose unexpectedly in May, helped by a bank holiday slipping back into June. However, analysts said there would be 'payback' in June, when a working day was lost to the bank holiday, as well as the extra public holiday for the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Production rose by 1% between April 2012 and May 2012, with manufacturing rising by 1.2%. Analysts had pencilled in no rise.Eurozone finance ministers decided to give Spain an extra year to reach its deficit target. The country's deficit target for 2012 has been raised from 5.3% to 6.3% of gross domestic product (GDP). Furthermore, the Eurogroup has approved that the recapitalisation of Spanish banks occur via the EFSF (temporary bailout fund) until the ESM (permanent bailout fund) becomes available. Out of the promised €100bn, €30bn could be ready as early as the end of the month. However, analysts at Barclays Capital said: "A long meeting of the euro area finance ministers (Eurogroup) concluded without full clarity on some of the important details on the policy decisions already taken at the previous EU summit, including the direct bank recapitalization of banks by the ESM, once the common European supervisor is established." In other news, Chinese import growth slowed from 12.7% to 6.3% in June, below expectations of an 11.3% increase. Meanwhile, export growth slowed from 15.3% to 11.3%, above the 9% rise expected. Lower-than-expected imports pushed China's trade surplus to a three-year high. FTSE 100: Mining stocks jump after dataMining heavyweights were on the rise after the release of the UK manufacturing data: Vedanta, Xstrata, Glencore and Evraz were registering decent gains by midday.Oil stocks were also on the rise on the back of some positive newsflow from Norway. The Norwegian government prevented a strike and industry lockout planned for today; the country accounts for11% of Europe's oil and 25% of its natural gas. BP and Shell were in demand in London.Banks were also performing well with HSBC, RBS and Standard Chartered edging higher. Barclays was up after former-CEO Bob Diamond turned down a £20m severance package.First-quarter like-for-like (LFL) sales took a tumble at High Street giant Marks and Spencer, though the food business held up well, and full-year guidance remains unchanged, prompting shares to rise.Utilities group SSE edged higher after Investec upgraded its rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'buy' and raised its target price from 1,226p to 1,479p to "reflect our increased confidence that SSE will now deliver significant value from its capital investment." ??Catering giant Compass was lower after sector peer Sodexo saw growth slow in the third quarter. ?FTSE 250: SIG warns of challenging second half SIG, the building products distributor, fell after saying it was buffeted by bad weather and a weak euro in the first half, with more challenges ahead in the second. The firm expects its six month figures to be broadly flat in constant currency terms, but said that total sales in the first half fell by nearly 4% in sterling terms. ??Iron ore producer Ferrexpo rose after seeing pellet production rise in the second quarter, though year-to-date production is down year-on-year because of lower availability of third party concentrate. ??Mining peer Centamin was also higher after achieving record production in its second quarter of 67,422 ounces of gold, a 40% increase on the second quarter of 2011 and a 37% improvement on the preceding quarter. ??Online gaming firm bwin.party dropped after revealing that it has been hit by weak poker revenues and the lack of shock results at the Euro 2012 football championship. FTSE 100 - RisersVedanta Resources (VED) 946.00p +5.40%Xstrata (XTA) 845.60p +3.68%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,301.00p +3.67%BAE Systems (BA.) 307.50p +3.57%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 740.00p +3.28%Experian (EXPN) 985.50p +3.09%Barclays (BARC) 167.60p +2.57%GKN (GKN) 214.00p +2.54%Glencore International (GLEN) 316.45p +2.49%Amec (AMEC) 1,045.00p +2.45%FTSE 100 - FallersCompass Group (CPG) 652.50p -2.54%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,467.50p -1.91%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,682.00p -0.53%ARM Holdings (ARM) 494.40p -0.30%National Grid (NG.) 681.00p -0.29%Pearson (PSON) 1,243.00p -0.08%United Utilities Group (UU.) 676.00p -0.07%Centrica (CNA) 318.70p -0.06%FTSE 250 - RisersAfren (AFR) 113.30p +8.11%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 212.60p +6.51%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 481.40p +5.69%Man Group (EMG) 67.95p +5.59%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 36.10p +5.43%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 70.10p +5.41%International Personal Finance (IPF) 251.40p +4.40%Ocado Group (OCDO) 71.60p +4.07%Cape (CIU) 279.60p +3.52%Interserve (IRV) 328.00p +3.37%FTSE 250 - FallersAvocet Mining (AVM) 69.05p -5.09%SIG (SHI) 91.30p -4.95%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 300.00p -3.54%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 104.50p -3.06%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 40.45p -2.74%Rank Group (RNK) 119.00p -2.62%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 463.60p -2.19%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 116.00p -1.69%Ruspetro (RPO) 129.00p -1.53%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,535.00p -1.41%BC