Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Standard Life was making decent gains after agreeing on a deal with Phoenix Group to sell the latter's Ignis Asset Management division. Standard Life said the 390m pound acquisition will enhance earnings from the first full year of ownership. RSA is holding near the top of the leaderboard, part of the buying interest may be attributable to reports which have surfaced that it is looking for a buyer for its Lithuanian unit. Speculation puts the price tag at €100m. Financial services firm Legal & General also jumped after winning a bulk annuity arrangement with the ICI Pension Fund covering £3bn of its liabilities, the largest ever bulk annuity policy arranged by a pension scheme in the UK.Sector peer Hargreaves Lansdown also delivered a strong performance. Electricity provider SSE was in demand after unveiling plans to complete major disposals, freeze its household energy prices until 2016 and cut 500 jobs, as it confirmed results for 2013 would be broadly in line with expectations. Sector peer Centrica slumped on the news. Banking stocks were also heavy fallers today with state-backed lender Lloyds leading the decline after the government sold another tranche of its stake. The disposal was made at a price of 75.5p per share, compared with last night's closing price of 79.11p."We expect the placing to dampen demand for the stock in the short-term, but retain our fundamentally positive stance reflecting the company's position as a geared play on a recovering UK economy," said Analyst Gary Greenwood from Shore Capital.Royal Mail extended yesterday's losses which came after it said it is to begin talks with its unions about cutting a net 1,300 back office jobs in order to save £50m per year from 2016 onwards.FTSE 100 - RisersHargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 1,492.00p +6.12%Standard Life (SL.) 396.20p +5.99%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 87.45p +3.48%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,417.00p +2.83%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 215.30p +2.77%William Hill (WMH) 347.40p +2.39%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 412.10p +2.33%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 382.00p +2.30%SSE (SSE) 1,532.00p +2.27%Shire Plc (SHP) 3,071.00p +2.20%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 75.19p -4.96%Centrica (CNA) 324.80p -2.32%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,617.00p -1.97%BT Group (BT.A) 377.20p -1.77%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,080.00p -1.73%Royal Mail (RMG) 558.00p -1.33%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 916.50p -1.19%Barclays (BARC) 234.30p -1.12%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,275.00p -1.01%Prudential (PRU) 1,318.00p -1.01%NR