Lloyds Share News (LLOY)

Footsie has been moving steadily upward as higher commodity prices boost resource stocks after a US tax cut extension improved optimism on global economic growth.US president Barack Obama has said that he will agree to a two-year extension on tax-cuts from the Bush era, while on this side of the Atlantic, EU countries are meeting to today to approve the Irish bailout deal.Miners and oil stocks lead the risers with the price of crude edging up towards the $90 per barrel mark. Essar, Fresnillo and Antofagasta are the best of the risers. Meanwhile, good momentum across at its whole business helped supermarket giant Tesco, one of today's best performers, lift sales by 8.8% in the past three months, though its international businesses again led the way. The UK also picked up towards the end of the quarter.Plumbing supplies firm Wolseley, another strong performer today, said its first quarter trading performance was slightly ahead of expectations. Revenue in the three months ended 31 October rose 2% to £3,471m from £3,395m the year before. Like for like sales grew 4%.Engine producer Rolls-Royce has made its second contract win announcement of the week, this time it's a £20m deal to provide the design, propulsion systems and deck machinery for four deep water platform supply vessels.Standard Life has agreed to buy pensions and life product back office software group Focus Solutions through a £42m, 140p per share, all cash offer. Housebuilder Bellway expects net interim profits this year will be up by 20% on last year as buyer interest has picked up a little since the government's comperehensive spending review. Reservations are now ahead of the board's expectations, although still slightly down compared with the same period last year, while the decline in consumer confidence appears to have levelled out, it says.FTSE 100 - RisersAntofagasta (ANTO) 1,529.00p +4.94%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 373.70p +4.53%Wolseley (WOS) 1,909.00p +4.32%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,640.00p +4.19%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 952.00p +4.16%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 589.00p +4.16%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,587.00p +4.13%Unilever (ULVR) 1,929.00p +4.10%BHP Billiton (BLT) 2,531.00p +3.75%Xstrata (XTA) 1,485.50p +3.38%FTSE 100 - FallersAggreko (AGK) 1,536.00p -1.73%International Power (IPR) 413.70p -1.48%ICAP (IAP) 521.50p -1.23%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 407.90p -0.87%National Grid (NG.) 548.00p -0.81%Serco Group (SRP) 567.00p -0.79%Rexam (REX) 307.00p -0.62%BAE Systems (BA.) 323.50p -0.61%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,889.00p -0.58%G4S (GFS) 237.90p -0.38%FTSE 250 - RisersTaylor Wimpey (TW.) 29.09p +6.83%Bellway (BWY) 595.00p +6.63%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 662.00p +6.60%Persimmon (PSN) 407.40p +6.45%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 83.80p +6.35%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 148.40p +5.62%Melrose Resources (MRS) 236.50p +5.58%Hunting (HTG) 688.50p +5.11%Redrow (RDW) 127.30p +4.95%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 419.00p +4.75%FTSE 250 - FallersComputacenter (CCC) 371.10p -2.32%Senior (SNR) 139.80p -1.96%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,277.00p -1.77%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 332.00p -1.66%ITE Group (ITE) 227.90p -1.60%Avis Europe (AVE) 207.00p -1.43%Supergroup (SGP) 1,560.00p -1.33%Forth Ports (FPT) 1,358.00p -1.16%Lamprell (LAM) 300.60p -1.12%Domino's Pizza UK & IRL (DOM) 547.00p -1.00%