Vodafone Share News (VOD)

- Markets rangebound ahead of Inflation Report- UK CPI falls to 13-month low- Taper speculation ramps up after comments from Fed officialstechMARK 2,647.80 +0.27%FTSE 100 6,726.79 -0.02%FTSE 250 15,369.08 -0.33%Markets finished more or less flat on Tuesday afternoon after a fairly subdued session as investors digested a sharp fall in UK inflation and reacted to ongoing speculation over US stimulus.The FTSE 100 finished 1.58 points lower at 6,726.79 after having traded within a narrow range of just 15 points or so since mid-morning.British consumer price inflation fell from 2.7% in September to a 13-month low of 2.2% in October, according to the Office for National Statistics. The data came in well below the consensus forecast of a dip to 2.5% and was far lower than the Bank of England's (BoE) estimate for inflation to be at least 2.8% for the rest of 2013. Eyes are now turning to the BoE's Inflation Report due out tomorrow morning with price rises now running closer to the Bank's 2% medium-term target.Markets gave very little reaction to the data with the London index trading slightly lower after a raft of mixed corporate earnings from a number of heavyweights, including Vodafone, Babcock and CRH, along with losses from the mining and financial sectors.Stocks on Wall Street opened in the red on Tuesday as the Dow paused at a record high. A number of comments from Federal Reserve policymakers were weighing on sentiment as chatter surrounding the impending taper of quantitative easing (QE) continues to ramp up in light of last week's better-than-expected growth and jobs data.Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told CNBC today that "markets should bear in mind that this programme [QE] cannot go on forever". Meanwhile, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart warned that a taper could very well take place next month.Also in focus were analysts at Morgan Stanley who reportedly said that they see a 40% chance of tapering in December and 60% probability in January.Financials and miners fall; corporate earnings come in mixedA decline in risk appetite hit stocks in the financial and mining sectors on Tuesday with Fresnillo, Anglo American and Randgold finishing lower, along with Aberdeen Asset Management, Standard Chartered and RBS.RBS was also being pressured lower by a downgrade by Goldman Sachs from 'buy' to 'neutral' as analysts said that the stock now offers similar upside to others in the sector. Meanwhile, the UKFI said that it is too early to tell when the government's stake in RBS can be sold, as many issues over capital "absolutely need to be tackled as a precursor to successful reprivatisation".Heading the other way was building materials giant CRH after reporting a 2% increase in like-for-like sales in the third quarter, a strong turnaround after a 6% decline in the first half owing to difficult weather conditions. Vodafone gained after the £22bn in revenues reported for the first half came in 1.1% ahead of consensus estimates. Underlying earnings of £6.61bn also beat forecasts by 3.4%.Life insurance investment vehicle Resolution was lower after a mixed third quarter, as significant growth in UK new business was outweighed by a more subdued performance overseas.Babcock, the engineering support services company, fell after a broadly in-line first-half report in which it lifted its dividend by 10% following a 32% jump in pre-tax profits.Oxford Instruments surged after "significant strengthening" in its second-quarter results and revealed it was in talks to acquire AIM-listed Andor Technology.Shares in TalkTalk leapt after the company upped its dividend for the first half and raised its full-year guidance. The group said it expected annual revenue to be at least 3% higher, compared to a previously expected increase of 2%.FTSE 100 - RisersCRH (CRH) 1,609.00p +3.21%Vodafone Group (VOD) 231.25p +1.72%Kingfisher (KGF) 392.50p +1.66%Centrica (CNA) 360.40p +1.44%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 840.00p +1.33%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,821.00p +1.28%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 398.80p +1.22%RSA Insurance Group (RSA) 109.40p +1.20%Croda International (CRDA) 2,332.00p +1.17%Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,306.00p +1.16%FTSE 100 - FallersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 416.90p -4.51%Fresnillo (FRES) 915.50p -3.88%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 331.60p -2.41%Anglo American (AAL) 1,440.50p -2.27%ARM Holdings (ARM) 933.00p -1.74%Tullow Oil (TLW) 900.00p -1.69%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,611.00p -1.64%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,488.00p -1.59%Schroders (SDR) 2,502.00p -1.57%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,485.50p -1.52%FTSE 250 - RisersOxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,425.00p +16.14%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 275.40p +10.20%BTG (BTG) 454.90p +7.21%NMC Health (NMC) 367.60p +3.93%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 2,100.00p +3.60%Renishaw (RSW) 1,755.00p +3.30%Computacenter (CCC) 593.50p +3.22%Premier Farnell (PFL) 234.50p +3.08%Homeserve (HSV) 245.60p +1.70%RPS Group (RPS) 291.00p +1.68%FTSE 250 - FallersMenzies(John) (MNZS) 767.00p -6.41%Polymetal International (POLY) 536.50p -5.46%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 150.00p -4.88%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 109.20p -4.38%esure Group (ESUR) 212.30p -4.15%Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 290.50p -4.13%Evraz (EVR) 119.20p -4.10%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 240.00p -4.00%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,556.00p -3.95%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 242.00p -3.85%BC