Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Strong figures from Royal Dutch Shell have also boosted the share price of fellow oil company BP but this has not been enough for FTSE 100 to hang on to positive territory. The banks, which were the worst performers earlier in the day, have recovered the majority of their earlier losses but remain lower. The FSA's criticism of banks has knocked the share prices of RBS, Barclays and Lloyds. Royal Dutch Shell reported better than expected profits for the first quarter. Earnings jumped to $4.9m on a current cost of supplies (CCS) basis, from $3.3bn over the same period the previous year. This was well ahead of expectations of about $4.2bn. The company announced a first quarter dividend of 42 cents, as expected. Shell reported a strong improvement at its upstream business though, as in peer BP's first quarter results yesterday, downstream activities remained under pressure. Shell's higher exposure to gas markets, which have not performed as well as oil, meant its rise in profits was not as impressive as that of BP, which saw earnings double.Consumer-related companies dominate the fallers. Tour operators Thomas Cook and TUI Travel and retailers Tesco, Burberry and Kingfisher are all lower. FTSE 100 - RisersOld Mutual (OML) 116.30p +3.10%BG Group (BG.) 1,100.00p +3.00%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,280.00p +2.42%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,967.50p +2.37%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,043.50p +2.30%BP (BP.) 623.00p +2.13%Liberty International (LII) 492.20p +0.82%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,222.50p +0.70%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 681.50p +0.66%Fresnillo (FRES) 808.00p +0.62%FTSE 100 - FallersReed Elsevier (REL) 509.50p -3.87%Centrica (CNA) 299.30p -3.82%WPP Group (WPP) 679.50p -3.62%Man Group (EMG) 239.20p -3.39%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 246.10p -3.07%Tesco (TSCO) 435.05p -3.03%Burberry Group (BRBY) 661.00p -2.79%TUI Travel (TT.) 275.60p -2.79%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,773.00p -2.74%Kingfisher (KGF) 238.50p -2.41%