LONDON (ShareCast) - - RBS up over five per cent after upgrade
- Tullow Oil strikes again off the coast of Ghana
- Footsie up 1.4 per cent on the week

The FTSE 100 was continuing to set new intraday highs by lunchtime, helped by a strong performance by financial and resource stocks. It has been a relatively quiet day for company news, so most eyes are focused on the US economic data (industrial production, inflation and consumer confidence) due out in the next few hours.

As it stands, the Footsie was up 80 points, or 1.4%, from last Friday's close of 5,887.

In Eurozone news, President of the European Commission (EC) José Manual Durao Barroso said late yesterday that the 'important reforms' undertaken by EU countries such as Italy and Spain have improved the overall situation in the Eurozone.

Barroso insisted that the “the situation is better” and that the euro is a strong currency. He noted that “there has been progress in managing the crisis” and pointed out that “it was not so much a crisis of the euro as a currency, but rather of the sovereignty of some members of the Eurozone”.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has today upgraded its view on Greece. It now estimates that the country's debt-to-GDP ratio could fall to 116.5% by 2020, versus the 120.5% previously estimated.

Oil stocks in London on the whole were making slight gains after oil prices rebounded from a one-week low after improving economic data from the US - namely jobless claims - buoyed hopes of demand from the world's largest economy. Meanwhile, the US announced that it has not yet agreed to tap the oil stockpile from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to deal with rising prices. Brent futures on the ICE Europe were 0.49% higher at $123.19 a barrel by midday.

RBS LEADS THE RISE AFTER UPGRADES

Royal Bank of Scotland was the best performer of the day after being upgraded by both Investec and UBS to buy. Investec said that following its earlier downgrade last month of the stock, the bank is now "overtly safe" with a loan-to-deposit ratio of 108% and a core tier one ratio of 10.6%. UBS said that a more positive view on the UK and improving "economic momentum" in the US will pave the way for an improved performance of the core business. Financial peers Hargreaves Lansdown, Lloyds and ICAP were all rising at least 2%.

Tullow Oil, which released record results earlier this week, had more good news for shareholders with the successful drilling of an appraisal well off the coast of Ghana. Shares were up nearly 4% after it said that an appraisal well has successfully encountered oil in very good quality sandstone reservoirs.

Polymetal was down nearly 4% and Randgold Resources fell 1%, as gold prices took a hit. Polymetal continues to make headlines concerning the rumoured merger with Russian peer Polyus Gold, which is aiming to raise its free float to 25% (from 14%) in order to gain a long-awaited premium listing on the FTSE 100.

Copper mining peers Antofagasta, Glencore, Kazakhmys and Xstrata were all performing well, helped by a note by Jefferies which said that copper prices should rise due to supply issues. However, the US broker warned that this may not lead to higher earnings for the miners.

Pharmaceuticals giant Shire was up 1.1% after JP Morgan Cazenove upgraded its rating to overweight and lifted its target price, while security firm G4S was slightly lower after a downgrade from Goldman Sachs.

FTSE 250: RETAILERS ON THE UP

Retailing peers Dixons Retail, Ocado, SuperGroup and Home Retail were providing a lift on the second-tier index, with the latter being lifted by an upgrade by HSBC from underweight to overweight.

Traders were debating the collective name for a group of Rothschilds on Friday morning as RIT Capital Partners, the London-listed investment trust chaired by Lord Rothschild, and Edmond de Rothschild Group (EdRG), the international private banking and asset management group chaired by Baron Benjamin de Rothschild, announced the creation of a strategic partnership. Shares were up 0.8%.

Shares in AIM-listed healthcare software provider EMIS rose after it saw a strong increase in revenue and profit in 2011, being able to maintains its market-leading position in the GP clinical software industry.

Meanwhile, department store chain Beale tumbled after tough retail conditions and reduced offers in the first 19 weeks of the fiscal year fell by 8.4%.

BC


FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 27.90p +5.40%
Essar Energy (ESSR) 118.90p +4.67%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,527.00p +3.81%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 491.90p +2.93%
ICAP (IAP) 421.70p +2.30%
ITV (ITV) 89.65p +2.28%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 37.28p +2.26%
Land Securities Group (LAND) 744.50p +1.99%
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 382.30p +1.92%
British Land Co (BLND) 511.50p +1.89%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Polymetal International (POLY) 955.50p -3.97%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 613.00p -1.21%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 328.10p -1.00%
GKN (GKN) 217.60p -0.91%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,590.00p -0.90%
Evraz (EVR) 407.10p -0.71%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,403.00p -0.64%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 710.50p -0.63%
BP (BP.) 489.95p -0.57%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,832.00p -0.51%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 17.15p +7.39%
Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 680.00p +6.33%
Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 249.30p +5.37%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 123.10p +3.36%
Supergroup (SGP) 620.00p +3.33%
Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 255.40p +3.15%
Unite Group (UTG) 218.10p +3.12%
SIG (SHI) 123.60p +2.83%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 159.10p +2.78%
Homeserve (HSV) 249.20p +2.68%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Soco International (SIA) 322.50p -4.05%
Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 131.20p -3.88%
Exillon Energy (EXI) 213.90p -2.82%
London & Stamford Property Ltd. (LSP) 110.70p -2.64%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 265.80p -2.46%
Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 59.75p -2.05%
Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 466.40p -1.64%
Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 552.00p -1.52%
SDL (SDL) 709.00p -1.39%
Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 32.37p -1.31%

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