- Greek talks still in progress.- RBS taps ECB emergency facility.- Vodafone up on Indian tax ruling.The Footsie was rather flat at midday, after swinging between gains and losses in the mid-morning session. Neverthess, the blue chip index was trading within a narrow range with just 26 points separating its intraday low and high. Banks were providing a lift at lunchtime, balanced out by some heavy falls in the oil sector.Investors will be keeping a close eye on Greece, where talks are still ongoing between the government and private creditors. The Institute of International Finance, which represents the private bond-holders, said that progress has been made and that conversations would continue today, reports Reuters. Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that both parties could be close to a compromise over how much of a loss investors should take on €200bn of Greek bonds.In domestic news, the volume of retail sales in the UK rose by 0.6% on the month (2.6% on the year) in December, according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics.Elsewhere, the HSBC/Markit Chinese manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index for the month of January rose slightly, to 48,8, from 48,7 the month before, reaching a three-month high.RBS LEADS GAINS IN BANKING SECTORRoyal Bank of Scotland was at the head of the pack despite news that it partook of the European Central Bank's long-term refinancing operation (LTRO) last month. According to Morgan Stanley research cited by The Telegraph, the semi-state owned lender borrowed £5bn of the £20bn of wholesale funding which it needs to replace this year. Sector peers Lloyds and Barclays were also higher.Shares in telecommunications group Vodafone rose on reports that the Indian Supreme Court has overturned an earlier tax-ruling against it from a lower court. The long-running battle centres around a $2.5bn (£1.3bn) tax bill relating to its 67% interest in Vodafone Essar, the Indian mobile unit of Hutchison Whampoa in which Vodafone invested over $11bn in 2007. Another stock dealing with Indian tax issues is Essar Energy which was down over 1% by midday. The stock took a tumble on Tuesday after its oil division was notified that it is no longer eligible to benefit from a deferred tax payment scheme.Hedge-fund manager Man was performing well after Deutsche Bank upgraded its shares to hold from sell, while Petrofac fell after JP Morgan Cazenove downgraded its rating from overweight to neutral.Oil stocks on the whole were falling, tracking oil prices lower. BP, BG and Shell were further pressured after Credit Suisse cut earnings per share estimates across the global Integrated Oils sector. Even oil and gas services firms Weir and AMEC were taken down a peg too. In fact, Weir Group is now leading the retreat on the top share index. The selling pressure on its shares is again being attributed to negative read-across from results published by some of its US peers. The Financial Times is reporting on the negligible profitability of some shale gas operations in the US. Drinks giant Diageo was performing well, helped by Investec which upgraded the Guiness maker from hold to buy ahead of its first half results due in a few weeks.British American Tobacco (BAT) was on the up after part-owned Indian peer ITC reported "extremely strong" third quarter results, according to Nomura. BAT owns 32% of ITC and it contributed around 12% to BAT's current market value, the broker said.It was reasonably quiet on the company announcements this morning. Media firm WPP has already made its fourth acquisition of 2012 with the purchase of a majority equity stake in Finnish communications agency Viestintätoimisto Pohjoisranta Oy (Pohjoisranta). Shares nudged higher. On the FTSE 250, engineering and construction group Kentz Corporation fell despite revealing that revenues and profits were "marginally" ahead of consensus expectations in 2011. The firm did reveal that long-standing Chief Executive Hugh O'Donnell to be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Christian Brown at the start of February.BCFTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 27.90p +3.10%Barclays (BARC) 227.80p +2.91%ICAP (IAP) 331.60p +2.79%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 614.00p +2.42%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 32.93p +2.05%Aviva (AV.) 348.30p +1.84%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,261.00p +1.80%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 330.00p +1.79%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,948.50p +1.76%Man Group (EMG) 121.60p +1.76%FTSE 100 - FallersWeir Group (WEIR) 1,988.00p -4.38%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,453.00p -3.39%BP (BP.) 468.55p -2.88%Carnival (CCL) 1,962.00p -2.73%GKN (GKN) 209.00p -1.92%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,340.00p -1.76%Glencore International (GLEN) 422.45p -1.76%BG Group (BG.) 1,464.00p -1.74%International Power (IPR) 322.30p -1.68%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,129.00p -1.66%FTSE 250 - RisersOcado Group (OCDO) 91.95p +14.79%Berendsen (BRSN) 448.20p +3.85%JD Wetherspoon (JDW) 422.00p +3.46%Northgate (NTG) 219.80p +3.44%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 278.20p +3.30%Misys (MSY) 301.40p +3.18%AG Barr (BAG) 1,268.00p +3.17%Telecity Group (TCY) 659.00p +3.13%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 233.10p +3.10%Hays (HAS) 71.80p +2.94%FTSE 250 - FallersHome Retail Group (HOME) 96.40p -5.49%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 328.80p -3.29%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 48.09p -2.97%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 178.90p -2.93%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 448.00p -2.61%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 71.20p -2.47%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 160.80p -2.31%Electra Private Equity (ELTA) 1,455.00p -2.15%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 187.90p -2.14%Chemring Group (CHG) 450.50p -2.07%
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