London open: Footsie flat, Vodafone rises on Indian tax ruling

LONDON (ShareCast) - The Footsie opened flat on Friday morning, with a rise in the banking sector being offset by resource stocks. The blue chip index nudged just a few points lower to 5,738 in early trading, following yesterday's 0.7% rise on the back of strong macro data and an improving outlook in the Eurozone. In other news, the HSBC (LSE: HSBA.L - news) /Markit Chinese manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index for the month of January rose slightly, to 48,8, from 48,7 the month before, reaching a three-month high. Nonetheless, it continues to come in below the 50 point mark, thus pointing to a continuing contraction in activity levels within the sector. VODAFONE RISES ON INDIAN COURT ISSUE Shares in telecommunications group Vodafone (LSE: VOD.L - news) rose in early trading on reports that the Indian Supreme Court has overturned an earlier tax-ruling against it from a lower court. The long-running battle centres around a $2.5bn (£1.3bn) tax bill relating to its 67% interest in Vodafone Essar, the Indian mobile unit of Hutchison Whampoa (HKSE: 0013.HK - news) in which Vodafone invested over $11bn in 2007. Another stock dealing with Indian tax issues is Essar Energy (Dusseldorf: 11224817.DU - news) , which rose 0.75% in the opening minutes. The stock took a tumble on Tuesday after its oil division was that it is no longer eligible to benefit from a deferred tax payment scheme. Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland (LSE: RBS.L - news) and Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) were providing a lift, extending gains made yesterday when the latter jumped over 10% on euro-fuelled optimism. Meanwhile, oil giant Petrofac (EUREX: P2FF.EX - news) led the downside after a broker downgrade, while miners Evraz, Fresnillo (Frankfurt: A0MVZE - news) , BHP Billiton (Hamburg: BHP1.HM - news) and Antofagasta (Xetra: 867578 - news) were also lower. It was reasonably quiet on the company announcements this morning. WPP (LSE: WPP.L - news) , the media titan headed by Sir Martin Sorrell, has already made its fourth acquisition of 2012 with the purchase of a majority equity stake in Finnish communications agency Viestintätoimisto Pohjoisranta Oy (Pohjoisranta). Shares nudged higher. On the FTSE 250 (FTSE: ^FTMC - news) , engineering and construction group Kentz Corporation (LSE: KENZ.L - news) rose after revealing that revenues and profits were "marginally" ahead of consensus expectations in 2011. Retailers were also on the up with JD Sport Fashion, Dixons Retail (Other OTC: DSITF.PK - news) and Kesa Electricals (Other OTC: KESAF.PK - news) making gains. Kesa appears to be bouncing back after yesterday's fall following news that its Darty business is struggling in France. Talvivaara continued to rise after the European Commission notified it of a 'positive opinion' on its uranium recovery processes yesterday, which in effect certifies that the company meets the mandated safeguards for supply security of nuclear fuel. Close Brothers was out of favour after reporting a mixed performance. The Banking division did much of the heavy lifting a the financial services and investment management firm in the second half of 2011, while its Securities division coped with tough market conditions. Buoyed by strong order intake in the final quarter of 2011, software solutions provider SciSys (LSE: SSY.L - news) reckons it is likely to enjoy further growth in sales, profits and net margins in 2012. BC FTSE 100 (Euronext: VFTSE.NX - news) - Risers Man Group (LSE: EMG.L - news) (EMG) 121.50p +1.67% Lloyds Banking Group (LSE: LLOY.L - news) (LLOY) 32.77p +1.55% Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 27.47p +1.52% Vodafone Group (VOD) 176.95p +1.40% Barclays (BARC) 224.25p +1.31% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS (Other OTC: MKSBF.PK - news) ) 330.50p +1.07% Essar Energy (ESSR) 120.90p +0.75% Aggreko (LSE: AGK.L - news) (AGK) 2,100.00p +0.72% Ashmore Group (ASHM) 359.30p +0.67% RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 108.90p +0.65% FTSE 100 - Fallers Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,445.00p -3.92% Weir Group (Other OTC: WEIGF.PK - news) (WEIR) 2,024.00p -2.65% Shire Plc (SHP) 2,133.00p -1.48% British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 657.50p -1.35% Evraz (EVR) 430.20p -1.22% Fresnillo (FRES) 1,750.00p -1.02% Schroders (Berlin: PYX.BE - news) (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,180.00p -1.01% Amec (LSE: AMEC.L - news) (AMEC) 987.00p -1.00% BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,139.00p -0.90% Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,352.00p -0.88% FTSE 250 - Risers Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 375.30p +4.74% JD Sports Fashion (Xetra: 903386 - news) (JD.) 738.00p +3.29% Dixons Retail (DXNS) 13.99p +3.02% Kesa Electricals (KESA) 75.00p +2.74% Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 123.20p +2.67% Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 223.00p +2.67% Hiscox Ltd. (HSX) 399.80p +2.54% AG Barr (BAG) 1,257.00p +2.28% Cape (LSE: CIU.L - news) (CIU) 392.20p +2.00% Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 468.80p +1.91% FTSE 250 - Fallers Redrow (Xetra: 906188 - news) (RDW) 114.10p -7.01% Close Brothers Group (CBG) 636.00p -3.42% Carpetright (Xetra: 904879 - news) (CPR) 530.00p -3.28% Kenmare Resources (Irish: JEV.IR - news) (KMR) 48.45p -2.24% Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 181.00p -1.79% TR Property Inv Trust (TRY) 150.90p -1.76% Yule Catto & Co (Frankfurt: YULCI.F - news) (YULC) 196.60p -1.70% Rank Group (Xetra: A0LGPG - news) (RNK) 128.00p -1.54% COLT Group SA (COLT) 92.20p -1.44% Centamin (DI) (CEY) 91.70p -1.34%