Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

A weak morning session on Wall Street did London no favours Thursday, although the big banks helped the leading index to only its second close above 5,800 in over three weeks.Barclays, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland were top of the pile. HSBC also did well, but fellow Asia-focused player Standard Chartered missed out.It propped up the leading index after warning that cost growth will exceed income growth as the bank invests in its businesses, opens new branches and hires new staff. Increasing competition for workers and higher compliance and regulatory costs also hurt.BG Group predicts "very low" technical costs for the initial phase of development at its Tupi and Guará fields in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil, where the company expects its share of the spoils to be 600 million barrels of oil equivalent (boe).Miners Lonmin Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and ENRC had done well, but gains either faded or diappeared altogether by the close of play. High street chains Next and Marks & Spencer found the going tough as well. It's a similar story at mid-cap retailers Kesa, WH Smith and Debenhams.Ashtead was up sharply as growth in North America lifted second quarter sales at the equipment hire firm. Shares in packaging group DS Smith also rallied after higher revenues and profits in the first half despite rising input costs. Pre-tax profits in the six months to 31 October climbed by 17.5% from the same period the previous year to £40.2m. Revenues by 15.3% to £1.17bn. But Premier Farnell tumbled. The electronic and industrial components supplier posted another surge in profit, but it obviously wasn't enough for some. Underlying profit before tax jumped 70% to £23.6m in the three months ended 31 October, taking the nine-month figure to £69.6m, up 85%.Also lower was Misys, the financial software specialist, which has had a pretty flat first half, held back by delays to some large orders, now expected to close in the second half. Estimated revenue for the six months ending 30 November is £160-162m compared with £160.6m a year ago, while adjusted operating profit is put at £20-23m versus £21.6m in 2009. As expected, "extremely difficult" market conditions and a bigger than expected first half loss have forced CD and DVD retailer HMV to slash the interim dividend. The shares are down 25%. The owner of book chain Waterstone's lost £41.3m before tax in the 26 weeks ended 23 October, up from £24.9m last year and worse than the City had predicted. And things haven't gone well at the start of the key Christmas trading period, with the snow "significantly" affecting consumer footfall.Men's outfitter Moss Bros says the positive trend experienced earlier in the year has continued as the company heads into the crucial Christmas period. Like-for-like sales were up by 8.3% in the first 18 weeks of the second half. "We enter this key trading period in the best shape we have been in for some time," says boss Brian Brick.Casino and bingo hall operator Rank sees full-year earnings coming in at the top end of analysts' expectations of between 9.5p and 9.8p after a strong performance from Grosvenor Casinos. Across the group, like-for-like revenues in the nine weeks to 5 December were up by 3% while total revenues climbed 4%.Toledo Mining Corporation says that it has received a bid approach from a third party. AIM-quoted Toledo was forced to put out an announcement because of a 2p rise in its share price to 24p just before the market closed.FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 276.00p +4.49%Cobham (COB) 203.60p +3.67%BG Group (BG.) 1,333.50p +3.57%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 42.31p +3.25%Prudential (PRU) 654.00p +3.07%Lonmin (LMI) 1,857.00p +2.94%Serco Group (SRP) 579.00p +2.12%Man Group (EMG) 284.10p +2.12%WPP (WPP) 776.50p +1.77%BT Group (BT.A) 180.80p +1.69%FTSE 100 - FallersSmith & Nephew (SN.) 636.00p -3.93%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,810.00p -3.62%Invensys (ISYS) 333.70p -3.36%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,756.00p -3.25%Amec (AMEC) 1,116.00p -2.62%Next (NXT) 2,011.00p -2.38%Whitbread (WTB) 1,769.00p -2.37%Xstrata (XTA) 1,420.00p -2.17%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 377.60p -1.97%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,934.00p -1.93%FTSE 250 - RisersAshtead Group (AHT) 158.00p +9.95%DS Smith (SMDS) 210.00p +9.26%Grainger (GRI) 106.40p +7.86%Bellway (BWY) 662.00p +7.47%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 163.90p +5.27%Mothercare (MTC) 627.50p +5.11%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 560.00p +5.07%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 309.00p +5.03%Helical Bar (HLCL) 295.00p +4.98%Robert Wiseman Dairies (RWD) 345.00p +4.23%FTSE 250 - FallersPremier Farnell (PFL) 280.00p -7.59%Centamin Egypt Ltd. (CEY) 169.30p -5.89%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 162.00p -4.48%Inchcape (INCH) 352.70p -4.18%Debenhams (DEB) 70.90p -3.86%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 350.50p -2.99%Electrocomponents (ECM) 264.60p -2.93%Croda International (CRDA) 1,507.00p -2.77%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 360.60p -2.72%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 299.90p -2.47%