- Footsie back above 5,600 after sell-off- Banks, miners among best performers on Footsie- Michael Page unwanted on FTSE 250After a tentative start, the Footsie was firmly higher by lunchtime on Wednesday, rebounding after yesterday's mass sell-off on the back of worries over the US jobs market and renewed tensions concerning Eurozone peripheral bond yields.However despite this morning's rise, those worries have not abated today the borrowing rate rising at an Italian short-term debt auction. Meanwhile, Spanish bonds may come under further pressure after it was revealed that Spanish industrial production dropped by an annual rate of 5.1% in February, a faster decline than the month before. Yields on Spanish and Italian 10-year debt soared on Tuesday to near-6% each. Just before midday today, the Spanish 10-year bond yield had eased by 7.3 basis points (bp) to 5.905%, while the Italian yield had fallen 14.6bp to 5.539%.Analysts at Barclays Capital said this morning that while European markets had some catching-up to do from the weak payroll data on Friday - US Employment Report was priced in yesterday due to market holiday on Monday - they said that Eurozone debt concerns continue to remain the centre of attention. "Spain and Italy are still in the midst of finalising fiscal and structural reforms, and as such the volatility in European government bonds periphery is not likely to disappear," they said.In domestic news, UK retail sales values increased by 1.3% on a like-for-like basis in March, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). "The unusually warm weather in March brought some welcome sunshine into the lives of non-food retailers. The early signs of summer got people buying clothes and shoes for the new season," said the BRC's Director-General, Stephen Robertson. FTSE 100: Risk-on as banks and miners provide a boostAs the risk-off session yesterday pressured shares of banking and mining stocks lower, investors looked to build positions on Wednesday with the two sectors performing strongly by midday. Barclays was a high riser, helped by an upgrade by Investec from hold to buy. The broker recommended investors to tap into a "clear opportunity" following the near-20% sell-off seen since the start of March. Sector peer Lloyds was also making solid gains.Meanwhile, the miners were being helped by US aluminium giant Alcoa which beat expectations in its first-quarter earnings report last night. Kazakhmys, Antofagasta, ENRC and Rio Tinto were in demand. Telecoms titan BT Group was lower after a downgrade from JP Morgan Cazenove. FTSE 250: Michael Page dropsLeading the upside on the second-tier index were the resource stocks with Ferrexpo, Hochschild Mining and Petropavlovsk among the best performers. However, recruitment firm Michael Page International was providing a drag after admitting that "markets continue to be weak and visibility remains limited." Nevertheless, gross profit in the first quarter of 2012 grew by 6.9%, up 7.7% on a constant currency basis. Dunelm was eking out small gains despite seeing like-for-like sales growth ease slightly in its third quarter. Total sales in the three months to March 31st grew by 10.7%. The upbeat retail sales data may also be providing a lift, with sector peer SuperGroup rising strongly.FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 215.35p +4.39%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,721.00p +3.24%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 30.75p +3.19%G4S (GFS) 281.40p +3.04%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 574.00p +2.96%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,102.00p +2.80%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 874.00p +2.46%Aviva (AV.) 312.60p +2.42%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,028.00p +2.19%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,378.50p +2.19%FTSE 100 - FallersBT Group (BT.A) 214.00p -2.10%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,951.00p -1.71%Reed Elsevier (REL) 531.00p -1.30%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 645.50p -1.30%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 689.50p -1.29%Whitbread (WTB) 1,793.00p -1.21%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,396.50p -0.99%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 608.00p -0.82%Diageo (DGE) 1,491.00p -0.80%Sage Group (SGE) 288.80p -0.72%FTSE 250 - RisersFerrexpo (FXPO) 285.80p +4.73%Supergroup (SGP) 603.00p +4.33%Fenner (FENR) 421.50p +3.82%Renishaw (RSW) 1,316.00p +3.79%Petropavlovsk (POG) 503.50p +3.56%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 137.70p +3.46%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 470.50p +3.29%Bodycote (BOY) 377.00p +3.26%Kier Group (KIE) 1,129.00p +3.11%Morgan Crucible Co (MGCR) 310.80p +3.08%FTSE 250 - FallersMichael Page International (MPI) 433.30p -4.54%Logica (LOG) 83.15p -3.15%COLT Group SA (COLT) 97.25p -3.14%Northgate (NTG) 191.20p -2.75%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 17.19p -2.22%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 30.83p -2.06%Filtrona PLC (FLTR) 462.60p -1.99%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 657.50p -1.87%UBM (UBM) 578.00p -1.78%CSR (CSR) 211.10p -1.72%BC
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