HSBC Holdings Share News (HSBA)

Investment manager Ashmore was the best performer, rising over 5%, bouncing back after a poor performance yesterday on the back of a downgrade from Royal Bank of Scotland. Today, however, the stock was given a boost after Barclays upgraded it to overweight from neutral. ARM Holdings, the chip designer for many Apple products, leapt 4% after Apple's quarterly figures showed robust demand for its trendy iPhones, iPads and Macs. Net income rose to $13.1bn in the first quarter of the company's fiscal year, more than double the $6bn achieved in the first quarter of the previous year. Putting the cherry on the top, Apple also raised earnings guidance for its second quarter.Industrial engineer Weir was heading north after agreeing to acquire US oil and gas pump valve maker Novatech for $176m (£113m) in cash. Weir is looking to further strengthen its presence in the US unconventional oil and gas markets following the recent $675m acquisition of wellhead solutions provider Seaboard Holdings which was completed in December. Sector peer IMI was also in demand.Meanwhile, banking heavyweights RBS, Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Standard Chartered were among the worst performers, dragging the Footsie down after gross domestic product figures came in worse than expected. The UK economy contracted at an 0.2% quarterly rate in the fourth quarter, according to the latest data out this morning from the Office for National Statistics. Consensus were looking for a fall of 0.1%. RBS was also being pressured lower by UBS which downgraded the stock from buy to neutral.FTSE 100 - RisersAshmore Group (ASHM) 373.00p +5.07%ARM Holdings (ARM) 606.00p +4.48%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,987.00p +3.11%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 727.00p +2.25%IMI (IMI) 853.50p +1.79%Land Securities Group (LAND) 693.00p +1.61%Hammerson (HMSO) 386.80p +1.34%Whitbread (WTB) 1,684.00p +1.32%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,319.00p +1.15%Rexam (REX) 380.60p +1.04%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 30.61p -3.38%SSE (SSE) 1,220.00p -2.63%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 26.34p -2.62%Tesco (TSCO) 323.80p -1.88%ICAP (IAP) 332.50p -1.77%Old Mutual (OML) 144.60p -1.70%Compass Group (CPG) 597.50p -1.65%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,545.50p -1.62%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,279.00p -1.58%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,360.50p -1.56%NR