London open: RBS leads the rise early on

27th Mar 2012 08:46

- Government may cut stake in RBS- Rio Tinto considers offloading diamond interests- Resolution could split before sale A strong performance by the banks helped push the FTSE 100 higher on Tuesday morning as the market continues to be boosted by recent comments by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.US stocks finished strongly on Wall Street last night after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said that improvements in the jobless rate will require "a more-rapid expansion of production and demand from consumers and businesses, a process that can be supported by continued accommodative policies." BANKS PROVIDE A LIFTRoyal Bank of Scotland jumped 5% early on reports that the UK government is looking to sell some of its stake in the lender to Abu Dhabi's sovereign-wealth funds. The BBC has said that it could offload up to a third of its 82% stake, following a government bailout back in 2008. Sector peers Lloyds and Barclays were also on the rise.Cooper miner Kazakhmys was also a strong performance after publishing its full-year results. Despite the majority of the main figures being revealed in a pre-close trading update earlier this month, shares rose nearly 3% early on. Revenues rose to $3,563m from $3,237m in 2010, while EBITDA edged up to $1,959m from $1,932m the year before. Fellow miners - Vedanta, Fresnillo, Evraz and ENRC - were also in demand.Rio Tinto was making gains after saying that it is thinking about offloading its diamond interests and has begun a strategic review of the business. "The diamonds market outlook is very positive, with demand growing strongly and lack of new discoveries limiting supply. We have a valuable, high quality diamonds business, but given its scale we are reviewing whether we can create more value through a different ownership structure," said Harry Kenyon-Slaney, the Chief Executive of Diamonds & Minerals. Meanwhile, leading the downside was insurance group Resolution which dropped nearly 7% after revealing that it could split its business into two to attract a buyer. Meanwhile, profit before tax in 2011 came in at £681m, ahead of a consensus prediction from forecasts compiled by I/B/E/S of £602m.Contract caterer Compass fell despite maintaining its expectations for the full year. Revenue growth is expected to be around 8.5% in the first half, the group said.Plumbing group Wolseley was also out of favour after its half-year results. LFL sales rose 5% in the six months to January 31st, however growth has eased a little since the end of the period, the group said. BCFTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 29.18p +5.15%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 950.50p +2.76%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 36.39p +2.39%Barclays (BARC) 253.50p +2.36%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 265.90p +1.96%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,331.00p +1.84%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,719.00p +1.84%Man Group (EMG) 135.60p +1.57%Evraz (EVR) 395.50p +1.41%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 634.50p +1.28%FTSE 100 - FallersResolution Ltd. (RSL) 256.70p -6.62%Compass Group (CPG) 652.50p -2.32%Wolseley (WOS) 2,476.00p -1.71%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,529.00p -1.16%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 822.00p -1.02%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,004.00p -0.89%International Power (IPR) 379.40p -0.78%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,041.00p -0.76%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,774.00p -0.73%National Grid (NG.) 637.00p -0.70%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 315.70p +4.09%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 151.00p +3.42%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 71.75p +3.24%Supergroup (SGP) 640.00p +3.23%Afren (AFR) 134.80p +2.90%PayPoint (PAY) 611.50p +2.51%Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 398.50p +2.44%Edinburgh Dragon Trust (EFM) 248.20p +2.35%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 256.60p +2.31%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 61.50p +2.07%FTSE 250 - FallersPZ Cussons (PZC) 309.00p -7.51%Bellway (BWY) 844.50p -1.75%Ruspetro (RPO) 201.50p -1.08%Carpetright (CPR) 690.00p -1.08%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,091.00p -1.00%Debenhams (DEB) 81.15p -0.98%Galliford Try (GFRD) 622.00p -0.96%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 470.40p -0.93%Redrow (RDW) 128.80p -0.92%RPC Group (RPC) 379.30p -0.91%