London midday: Footsie at nine-month high after German ZEW data

11th Dec 2012 11:51

- German ZEW surges in December- Whitbread impresses with Q3, Tullow drops- Footsie at highest since MarchAfter a subdued start, a much better-than-expected reading of German sentiment boosted buying this morning, sending the FTSE 100 to a nine-month high by Tuesday lunchtime.The Footsie is now trading at a nine-month high, up 14 points on the day at 5,936. The last time London's benchmark closed higher was on March 19th 2012 when it finished at 5,961. However, technical analysts at Digital Look highlight that the index has been unable to break resistance all year long; this is the fourth time in 2012 that it has attempted to consolidate above 5,900 points, which is "statistically odd", they said.The German ZEW Institute's economic sentiment index for the month of December shot up to 6.9 points from -15.7 the month before. The consensus estimate was for a slight improvement to -11.5. Analyst Thomas Harjes from Barclays Research said today: "Although the ZEW survey asks investors about their expectations for economic activity over the next six months, their expectations often correlate more with activity developments in the very near term. "We therefore believe that today's ZEW survey results bode well for our forecast of a rebound in economic activity early next year even if further improvements in investor expectations turn out to be more modest in coming months."Also helping the mood this morning was a Spanish debt auction which sold €3.89bn of 12- and 18-month bills, ahead of the €3.5bn targeted. They were sold at lower yields than the previous auction.Markets yesterday initially started the day on the back foot after the surprise early resignation of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. However, optimism regarding 'fiscal cliff' talks Stateside between President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner boosted buying in afternoon trade, helping the Footsie finish with moderate gains."Risk-on day for financial markets in Europe thanks to a combination of strong German ZEW data, smooth Spanish debt auction and optimism over US fiscal cliff talks," said market strategist Ishaq Siddiq from ETX Capital."Core government bonds are lower in a sign that market participants are comfortable with building a degree of risk, although political turmoil in Italy and Greece debt buyback announcement both pose a threat to upside momentum."FTSE 100: Whitbread and Tullow head opposite directionsCosta and Premier Inn owner Whitbread pleased the market this morning with an in-line third-quarter trading update, in which it revealed that total sales were up 14.4% year-on-year. Investors didn't seem to mind that like-for-like sales growth had slowed to 3.3% from 4.3% in the first half.Heading the other way was oil giant Tullow after revealing that its Okure-1 exploration well offshore Ghana had encountered "low net to gross oil bearing reservoir in a secondary objective". Separately company also announced plans to buy Norwegian exploration group Spring Energy for $372m and dispose of its non-core gas assets in the North Sea. HSBC was higher after reaching an agreement with US authorities in relation to investigations regarding inadequate compliance with anti-money laundering and sanctions laws. HSBC will make payments totalling $1.921bn and take further action to strengthen its compliance policies and procedures. Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff and Guinness owner Diageo was in the red after saying that it has called off talks to buy tequila giant Jose Cuervo after being unable to "agree a transaction".FTSE 250: Domino Printing, Victrex and IG take a hitIndustrial coding, printing and marking technology group Domino Printing was a heavy faller after reporting a small decline in annual profit as it battles against tough market conditions.IG Group was out of favour after revealing a 14% reduction in its revenue for the period June 1st to November 30th. High performance polymer manufacturer Victrex tanked after full-year revenues rose just 2% to £219.8m. Victrex was also lower after Numis cut its rating for the stock to 'reduce', while chip specialist Imagination Tech gained after Deutsche Bank raised its recommendation to 'buy'.FTSE 100 - RisersWhitbread (WTB) 2,514.00p +3.54%Meggitt (MGGT) 393.40p +1.60%Pennon Group (PNN) 616.50p +1.57%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,051.50p +1.46%Polymetal International (POLY) 1,102.00p +1.38%CRH (CRH) 1,173.00p +1.38%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,146.00p +1.24%Tesco (TSCO) 339.95p +1.19%Carnival (CCL) 2,472.00p +1.15%Pearson (PSON) 1,195.00p +1.10%FTSE 100 - FallersTullow Oil (TLW) 1,185.00p -5.65%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 270.00p -2.24%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 880.00p -1.29%Diageo (DGE) 1,862.50p -1.27%IMI (IMI) 1,080.00p -1.10%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,945.00p -0.82%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,306.00p -0.76%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 763.50p -0.72%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 712.00p -0.56%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,498.00p -0.53%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 57.50p +4.74%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 449.10p +4.61%Bumi (BUMI) 282.10p +3.71%Shanks Group (SKS) 79.15p +3.46%Dechra Pharmaceuticals (DPH) 618.50p +3.26%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 107.20p +3.08%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 98.80p +2.76%Sports Direct International (SPD) 395.60p +2.49%Stobart Group Ltd. (STOB) 100.90p +2.33%Hays (HAS) 80.50p +2.22%FTSE 250 - FallersDomino Printing Sciences (DNO) 567.50p -6.97%Victrex (VCT) 1,572.00p -3.91%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 423.10p -3.14%COLT Group SA (COLT) 94.65p -2.97%Chemring Group (CHG) 236.10p -1.58%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 162.50p -1.52%Greggs (GRG) 465.40p -1.50%Perform Group (PER) 362.50p -1.49%Man Group (EMG) 76.25p -1.36%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 230.50p -1.28%BC