London midday: Bounce in UK industrial data lifts stocks

LONDON (ShareCast) - London equities returned to positive territory by midday as UK manufacturing data provided encouragement and earlier concerns about stalled Greek debt negotiations were assuaged by more positive rumours. German newspaper Bild suggested that Greece has revised its list of reforms and was ready to suspend its minimum-wage plans.

On Sunday, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras held a phone meeting with German chancellor Angela Merkel and Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem to discuss the progress of debt negotiations.

Greek officials are holding a teleconference with officials in Brussels today before Wednesday's face-to-face meeting.

Sentiment in London was boosted mid morning as UK manufacturing survey data pointed to decent domestic demand, although not as strong as had been hoped.

While overall orders in the CBI's Industrial Trends Survey were being held back as the strength of sterling held back overseas orders, the monthly manufacturing survey found foreign demand rebounded in April after a slump in March.

"The outlook for manufacturers seems pretty healthy on the domestic demand front, especially for consumer goods," said Howard Archer at IHS (NYSE: IHS - news) .

Paul Hollingsworth at Capital Economics said the data "provides some reasons to be optimistic that tomorrow's GDP figures, which look set to show that manufacturing output stagnated in Q1, do not herald the beginning of a prolonged period of weakness for the sector".

Leading the risers on the blue chip index was HSBC as reports emerged that it may spin-off its UK high street banking business.

Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW.L - news) were retreating from early gains on weekend reports that the International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas ruled in its favour, allowing the outfit to continue with its exploration activities offsghore Ivory Coast.

Diageo (LSE: DGE.L - news) was down slightly after 54.78%-owned Indian arm United Spirits (BSE: UNITDSPR4.BO - news) (USL) has led it to demand the resignation of the business's chairman Vijay Mallya, though the 'liquor King of India' has refused. The internal inquiry, led by Pricewaterhousecoopers, conducted into loans given by USL to numerous Mallya's group companies found "various improprieties and legal violations", leading to the board of USL stating on Saturday (Shenzhen: 002291.SZ - news) that it had lost confidence in Mallya continuing in his role as a director.

Shares in British Gas owner Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) were up 1% as trading was revealed to be in line with the guidance provided at the time of its 2014 results in February, with improved year-on-year profitability downstream expected to be more than offset by the impact of lower commodity prices on the upstream business. Commenting on the results analysts said the fact there is no further negative surprise is aprobably a bit reassuring.

FTSE 100 - Risers HSBC Holdings (Xetra: HBC2.DE - news) (HSBA) 646.00p +2.59% Standard Chartered (Other OTC: SCBFF - news) (STAN) 1,095.50p +2.38% Sports Direct International (LSE: SPD.L - news) (SPD) 625.50p +2.04% Whitbread (WTB) 5,420.00p +1.59% Prudential (PRU (HKSE: 2378-OL.HK - news) ) 1,657.50p +1.56% Associated British Foods (LSE: ABF.L - news) (ABF) 2,813.00p +1.52% International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 580.00p +1.40% Wolseley (WOS) 3,987.00p +1.24% Hargreaves Lansdown (LSE: HL.L - news) (HL (Shenzhen: 002105.SZ - news) .) 1,194.00p +1.10% Travis Perkins (LSE: TPK.L - news) (TPK) 2,082.00p +1.07% FTSE 100 - Fallers Tesco (TSCO) 218.05p -3.00% Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 263.20p -1.83% Weir Group (WEIR) 1,723.00p -1.82% Fresnillo (FRES) 711.50p -1.66% Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 191.10p -1.55% BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) (BLT) 1,542.00p -1.41% Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 547.00p -1.35% Aggreko (EUREX: AGKF.EX - news) (AGK) 1,651.00p -1.26% RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 417.40p -1.16% BP (BP.) 472.85p -1.16% FTSE 250 - Risers Supergroup (SGP) 999.00p +5.77% UBM (UBM (LSE: UBM.L - news) ) 566.50p +3.38% Vedanta Resources (Other OTC: VDNRF - news) (VED) 648.00p +2.61% Tate & Lyle (LSE: TATE.L - news) (TATE) 620.50p +2.56% Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 477.50p +2.20% Jardine Lloyd Thompson Group (JLT) 1,055.00p +1.74% Ocado Group (Other OTC: OCDGF - news) (OCDO) 348.10p +1.72% AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 894.50p +1.65% Hiscox Ltd (CDI) (HSX) 843.00p +1.51% IP Group (LSE: IPO.L - news) (IPO) 216.10p +1.50% FTSE 250 - Fallers Serco Group (Other OTC: SECCF - news) (SRP) 130.10p -3.56% Polymetal International (LSE: POLY.L - news) (POLY) 534.00p -3.17% Ophir Energy (Other OTC: OPGYF - news) (OPHR) 164.20p -2.67% Lonmin (LMI) 140.10p -2.57% Kaz Minerals (LSE: KAZ.L - news) (KAZ) 247.00p -2.53% Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 185.00p -2.37% Tullow Oil (TLW) 408.20p -2.34% Cairn Energy (LSE: CNE.L - news) (CNE) 175.70p -2.33% RPS Group (LSE: RPS.L - news) (RPS) 238.60p -2.13% Acacia Mining (LSE: ACA.L - news) (ACA) 286.10p -2.12%