Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

The Footsie closed near its highest levels of the day at 5,697, breaking through the 5,700 mark briefly in late afternoon trade. Upbeat economic data from China along with news that Fitch doesn't intend to downgrade France this year lifted the mood across Europe today with benchmark indices across the continent gaining between 2% and 3%.RESOURCES STOCKS PROVIDE A BOOST Miners were posting impressive gains on Tuesday after China posted a better-than-expected trade surplus. According to analyst Colin Cieszynski from CMC Markets, "This was due to much lower than expected imports suggesting that the Chinese economy remains sluggish and increasing speculation that more PBOC [People's Bank of China] easing may be on the way. Reports that China may improve foreign access to its stock markets may also be helping to turnaround sentiment toward the country."Also helping sentiment was last night's bullish forecast by Alcoa for 7% demand growth in aluminium in 2012. The company also said it expected a global aluminium supply deficit of 600,000 tonnes this year.Kazakhmys, Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Vedanta Resources and Randgold Resources rose between 4% and 6%.Oil and gas firm Cairn Energy was a high riser after giving details of the long-awaited $3.5bn it intends to return to its lucky shareholders following the $5.5bn sale of a large stake in its Indian business to Vedanta. The return of cash will take place as a 'B' sharescheme which will give UK tax-payers the chance to receive cash in the form of income or capital, or a blend of both. Oriel Securities upgraded the stock from hold to add this morning. BANKS ON THE UPBanks were performing well today - in line with the broader European banking sector - after ratings agency Fitch Ratings said that it did not expect to downgrade the continent's second-largest economy, France. The STOXX Europe 600 Banks was up 3.5% by the close in London.UK-listed lenders Barclays, Lloyds and RBS were on the way up despite the latter being on the verge of shedding between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs, according to Reuters. However, Fitch has warned that the rating of six member states under review - Spain, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Slovenia or Cyprus - could be downgraded by one or two notches. Furthermore, the head of global sovereign ratings David Riley told reporters that there is a "significant chance" that Italy's rating will fall. RETAILERS IN FASHION Back in London, high street giant Marks & Spencer rose after seeing sales (excluding VAT) rise 2.4% in the final 13 weeks of 2011. As for the all-important like-for-like sales comparisons, overall, the UK stores were up 0.5%, with General Merchandise down 1.8% but Food up 3.0%. Another retailer, FTSE 250 department store chain Debenhams, also issued a trading statement today and saw its share price jump 10%. The firm reported 6.5% improvement in like-for-like (LFL) sales including VAT in December. "All in all, we've seen some cracking results this morning from two of Britain's leading high street retailers," said Cavendish Asset Management's Senior Fund Manager Paul Mumford. "The gloom and doom factor regarding Marks & Spencer and Debenhams was palpable last week; commentators and analysts have were in the main deeply pessimistic ahead of today's results. Yet in both cases results have exceeded expectations, and we are seeing relief rallies as a result," he said. Helping the rally in the retail sector, which was gaining an average 1.9%, was the news that retail LFL sales rose 2.2% in December. BCFTSE 100 - RisersKazakhmys (KAZ) 1,037.00p +5.92%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,732.00p +5.74%Barclays (BARC) 188.30p +5.73%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 21.13p +5.28%BAE Systems (BA.) 304.10p +5.15%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,296.00p +5.02%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,027.00p +5.01%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,220.00p +4.64%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 27.31p +4.28%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,000.00p +4.06%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 604.00p -1.47%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,420.00p -1.05%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 309.70p -0.58%Aggreko (AGK) 2,123.00p -0.38%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 599.00p -0.25%Tesco (TSCO) 390.00p -0.12%SABMiller (SAB) 2,339.50p -0.09%FTSE 250 - RisersDebenhams (DEB) 62.00p +8.96%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 87.75p +8.53%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 284.00p +7.62%Cape (CIU) 358.40p +6.79%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 160.00p +5.26%JPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 342.00p +4.52%Mondi (MNDI) 483.60p +4.38%Victrex (VCT) 1,168.00p +4.29%Northgate (NTG) 207.00p +4.02%Elementis (ELM) 143.50p +3.99%FTSE 250 - FallersRedrow (RDW) 116.40p -4.82%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 170.50p -4.27%Hays (HAS) 62.70p -4.06%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 102.30p -3.67%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 937.00p -3.00%Synergy Health (SYR) 848.00p -2.97%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 184.50p -2.84%Ocado Group (OCDO) 54.45p -2.77%Senior (SNR) 180.00p -2.70%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 305.00p -2.56%