Next Share News (NXT)

Strong US data out yesterday, improving consumer confidence in Germany and measures by the Chinese central bank to ease a credit squeeze, all combined to give markets a boost on Wednesday with London's FTSE 100 jumping one per cent by midday.Nevertheless, mining stocks were under pressure in morning trade as metals prices slid on the back of a stronger US dollar and the increased likelihood that the Federal Reserve will soon 'taper' stimulus if economic data continues to improve. American consumer confidence, durable-goods orders and housing-market data released last night all came in ahead of forecasts."There was a concern yesterday that if the data came out above expectations, or significantly above as it did, that it would push equities back into the red as investors continue to worry about Fed tapering later this year. Instead, equities held on to gains which was very encouraging and suggests that markets have priced in the tapering, if not overreacted to [Fed Chairman] Ben Bernanke's comments," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.While Germany continues to trudge through the Eurozone recession, consumer confidence is still hitting highs not seen since September 2007. The Gfk consumer confidence indicator advanced to 6.8 points in July, ahead of the June reading of 6.5. The market research company noted that German consumers continued to be in an "optimistic mood" with economic and income expectations increasing further.Meanwhile, the People's Bank of China has announced that it had injected funds into some financial institutions in an effort to increase liquidity and stabilise interbank lending rates. The central bank said it would make similar moves in the future, with one PBoC official quoted as saying that it would "guide market interest rates into a reasonable range".FTSE 100: Miners under pressureMining stocks were in the red this morning as metals prices fell sharply. Precious metals groups Fresnillo and Randgold were among the worst hit after gold and silver prices dropped to mutli-year lows. Mining peers Antofagasta, Glencore Xstrata, Anglo American and ENRC were also out of favour.Financials however were offsetting weakness in the mining sector, with Prudential, Resolution, Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Management among the best performers.Insurance, savings and investment group Legal & General rose on plans to purchase UK annuity buy-out firm Lucida for £151m after identifying retirement solutions as one of its "five key themes for growth".Banking group Standard Chartered gained after saying that income for the first half of the year is expected to grow at a mid single-digit rate following a strong second quarterA number of heavyweight stocks were trading lower after going ex-dividend this morning, including Next, Tate & Lyle and Compass, meaning that investors won't have a chance to be awarded the companies' latest payouts.Security solutions group G4S was a high riser this morning after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock to 'outperform', leaving its 260p target price in place.Distribution and outsourcing group Bunzl was trading lower after saying overall trading remains in line with company expectations and is unchanged from its last update in April.FTSE 250: Ex-div stocks provide a dragInterdealer broker ICAP was a heavy faller this morning after going ex-dividend. Others going ex-dividend this morning included N Brown, Dairy Crest, KCOM, PayPoint and Petropavlovsk, all of which were trading firmly lower this morning.Oil and gas group Afren was heading the other way after announcing a "significant" oil discovery offshore Nigeria which increases the potential of the OPL 310 licence.Transport group Stagecoach rose after reporting full-year results ahead of expectations following a strong performance from its North American and British rail businesses, adding that current trading in line with management expectations. FTSE 100 - RisersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 379.60p +5.12%Prudential (PRU) 1,068.00p +3.59%Persimmon (PSN) 1,174.00p +3.35%Standard Life (SL.) 358.50p +3.20%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 279.50p +3.02%Croda International (CRDA) 2,424.00p +2.93%TUI Travel (TT.) 354.20p +2.79%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,150.00p +2.79%Schroders (SDR) 2,142.00p +2.73%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,063.00p +2.64%FTSE 100 - FallersEurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 205.60p -3.93%Antofagasta (ANTO) 791.00p -3.42%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 3,978.00p -2.90%Anglo American (AAL) 1,269.50p -2.27%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 271.50p -1.77%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 800.50p -1.60%Fresnillo (FRES) 886.00p -1.39%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,032.00p -1.34%Next (NXT) 4,474.00p -1.08%Melrose Industries (MRO) 242.10p -1.06%FTSE 250 - RisersAfren (AFR) 131.00p +7.64%Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 229.90p +4.93%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 41.50p +4.61%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 255.50p +4.54%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 306.70p +4.39%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 94.95p +4.34%Stagecoach Group (SGC) 312.00p +4.17%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 120.60p +4.15%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 608.00p +4.11%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 94.70p +4.07%FTSE 250 - FallersICAP (IAP) 354.90p -8.25%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 29.11p -4.18%KCOM Group (KCOM) 80.95p -3.75%Evraz (EVR) 101.20p -3.71%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 449.40p -3.46%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 80.00p -3.03%FirstGroup (FGP) 93.45p -2.76%Polymetal International (POLY) 479.10p -2.62%Mitie Group (MTO) 249.00p -2.47%PayPoint (PAY) 1,044.00p -2.43%