London midday: Essar recovery pushes Footsie into the blue

18th Jan 2012 12:01

The Footsie pushed into positive territory in late morning trade, helped the blue chip index nudge above the 5,700 mark, helped by a strong recovery from Essar Energy and a well-received trading update from Man Group.Nevertheless, investors are keeping a close eye on Athens today as Greek private creditors meet with the government to agree on debt write-downs. Elsewhere in the Eurozone, reports that Fitch could downgrade Italy by two notches continue to do the rounds, while the S&P has said that Germany's triple-A rating will not be at risk of a downgrade this year, even if the economy enters a recession.In domestic news, the UK unemployment rate hit 8.4% in the three months to the end of November, higher than the 8.3% analysts had been expecting. The unemployment rate has not been higher since 1995 and the number of unemployed people has not been higher since 1994, according to the Office for National Statistics.ESSAR TOPS THE LIST AFTER SHARP FALL Essar Energy climbed this morning after a court ruling in India wiped 26% of the company's share price yesterday. The ruling appeared to put an end to Essar's use of a tax scheme for its oil refining operations in the state of Gujarat, which had seen the company defer $1.235bn in tax payments. Essar now says it is "examining all legal options" and expects to file a review petition in the next 30 days. Cruise ship operator Carnival was another on the recovery trail; the shares have been hammered this week after one of the company's ships ran aground last Friday, leading to several deaths.Hedge fund manager Man Group rose strongly despite seeing funds under management fall $6bn to $58.4bn at the end of December. Peel Hunt said this morning that the stock, trading at 7.9 times earnings is "undeniably cheap".Tullow was the worst performer after its production figures missed targets. The firm said that production for 2011 averaged 78.2 thousand barrels of oil equivalents per day (mboepd), slightly below the (already revised lower) guidance of 79-81mboepd.Miner BHP Billiton was in favour after saying that it now expects full-year iron output to exceed its prior guidance after a strong first half of iron ore production in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Silver and gold miner Fresnillo was in the blue by lunchtime after a mixed trading statement. Silver output had remained flat in the final three months of the year but the miner said that it had beaten its full-year gold production target.Other miners to fall early on, ENRC and Rio Tinto, were making gains by midday. Meanwhile, Imperial Tobacco was among the fallers after going ex-dividend. ON THE FTSE 250... Specialist investment firm Intermediate Capital was leading the rise, gaining 8%, extending gains after yesterday's trading statement. Shares are now nearly 14% on the week.African Barrick Gold, the Tanzania-focused gold producer, fell after seeing production drop 11% in the final three months of last year compared to the same period of 2010. Retailers were making strong gains, with KESA, Dixons and JD Sports among the top risers.Specialist pharma company BTG nudged higher after saying it has won approval in the US for its Voraxaze drug.BCFTSE 100 - RisersEssar Energy (ESSR) 140.30p +10.47%Man Group (EMG) 113.00p +5.51%Carnival (CCL) 1,953.00p +2.30%Evraz (EVR) 416.20p +2.13%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 271.10p +2.07%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,156.00p +2.03%Schroders (SDR) 1,389.00p +1.91%Prudential (PRU) 690.50p +1.77%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 693.00p +1.69%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 446.80p +1.64%FTSE 100 - FallersTullow Oil (TLW) 1,390.00p -4.47%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,287.00p -3.09%Pearson (PSON) 1,238.00p -1.35%Cairn Energy (CNE) 286.30p -1.17%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 754.50p -1.11%SSE (SSE) 1,247.00p -1.03%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 687.00p -0.87%Centrica (CNA) 284.20p -0.80%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,196.00p -0.77%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,100.00p -0.71%FTSE 250 - RisersIntermediate Capital Group (ICP) 271.20p +8.18%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 74.50p +6.05%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 731.50p +5.25%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 11.49p +5.03%Logica (LOG) 79.45p +4.47%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 338.10p +4.03%Ashtead Group (AHT) 221.20p +3.90%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 40.39p +3.80%TUI Travel (TT.) 179.20p +3.52%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 474.60p +3.17%FTSE 250 - FallersAfren (AFR) 125.70p -3.68%Diploma (DPLM) 373.00p -2.94%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 457.30p -2.20%Misys (MSY) 277.00p -2.12%Galliford Try (GFRD) 481.70p -1.97%Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 302.20p -1.69%BBA Aviation (BBA) 187.30p -1.52%Shanks Group (SKS) 99.60p -1.48%JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 410.60p -1.46%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 17.00p -1.45%