London close: Back above 5,000

Britain's banks staged an impressive turnaround Wednesday that helped carry London out of the red and onto a second day of very respectable gains.High street lenders were unsettled early on as investors waited for details on the nature of European stress tests for about 100 banks. Last-minute haggling over exactly how much of the methodology should be revealed makes it more likely an announcement will be made tomorrow instead. But traders appear more optimistic about the potential outcome, which should be known on 23 July. A prediction from US bank State Street that second quarter results will beat forecasts also improved the mood.Hopes that UK peers will be able to replicate that had Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds reversing initial losses, while HSBC erased most of a 3% slump.A strong start on Wall Street also gave the City a lift, getting the leading index up above 5,000 for the first time in a week.Supermarket chain J Sainsbury hit a two-month high on growing speculation that former suitor, the Qatar Investment Authority, is stake building. Talk is the Qataris are ready to up their interest in Britain's third-largest food retailer to 29.9% ahead of a cash offer pitched at 500p a share.Shares in BP also continued to rise on talk of Middle East investment and possible capping of the leaking Gulf of Mexico well. Chief executive Tony Hayward is said to be in Abu Dhabi meeting with representatives of one of the world's largest sovereign wealth funds.There was also plenty of results news, though the response to first quarter numbers from M&S wasn't what the high street bellwether had hoped for.The retailer reported a 3.6% rise in UK like-for-like sales, but is cautious about the outlook for consumer confidence and spending. Like for like sales in general merchandise, which includes clothing, were up 6% in the 13 weeks ended 3 July, with like for like sales growth in food of 1.5%.KBC Peel Hunt is nervous. While it accepts Marks has had a good start to the year, there are enough concerns for it to repeat its "sell" rating and 325p target price. "Our concerns for Marks & Spencer stem from relative balance sheet constraints and lower cash generation compared to its peers such as Next as capital expenditure starts to ramp up to normal levels and to meet new investment plans," said KBC analyst John Stevenson.Other retail plays have also fallen back, with Burberry struggling.Anglo-Swiss mining titan Xstrata has given the green light to a huge investment in a brownfield expansion to the Tintaya copper mine in southern Peru. The Xstrata board has approved a $1.47bn investment to develop the Antapaccay copper project, located around 10 kilometres from the Tintaya open pit mine which is expected to be exhausted in 2012.Tullow Oil can proceed with the $1.5bn acquisition of a 50% stake in two big oil fields in Uganda from Heritage Oil after the government there gave approval after months of wrangling. Tullow exercised its first refusal rights over blocks 1 and 3A in the Albert Basin in Uganda after Heritage agreed to sell the stakes to Eni of Italy.Aquarius Mining is lower after five people died yesterday at its Marikana platinum mine when a shaft collapsed. Storage firm Big Yellow Group enjoyed a "robust" quarter with a particularly "strong" June. Annualised store revenue, for the 51 wholly owned stores, rose 9% to £59.8m at 30 June 2010. Total store revenue was £14.4m for the quarter, up 10% from the same quarter last year. Private equity leviathan 3i said its investments are stabilising or improving while the pipeline of investment opportunities looks promising. Investment in the second quarter of 2010 totalled £105m, compared to £79m in the second quarter of 2009. Enterprise software giant Autonomy has licensed its Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) software to Kraft Foods, the US processed foods giant which last year bought up UK confectionery firm Cadbury. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.South African bank Investec has received a number of approaches from parties interested in acquiring its Rensburg Fund Management (RFM) subsidiary. The business was acquired as part of the takeover of Rensburg Sheppards in June. Carillion said the coalition government's cuts on the Building Schools for the Future programme will not have a "material impact" on the group's orders.Engineer Smiths has agreed a ten-year plan with its trustees to reduce the £655m deficit in its two main pension funds.Sales are on the rise at Booker, the cash and carry wholesale group, with demand for fresh produce particularly strong.Paper and plastic packaging firm DS Smith is to buy Otor, a corrugated packaging company based in France.Greeting cards retailer Clinton Cards said total sales since its last statement in May have been weaker than expected.Support services firm Cape anticipates performance for the year ending 31 December 2010 will be ahead of its previous expectations thanks to favourable exchange movements.FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 291.60p +6.19%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 344.00p +4.81%BP (BP.) 362.05p +4.79%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 42.83p +4.69%BT Group (BT.A) 134.90p +3.61%3i Group (III) 272.60p +3.61%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,030.00p +3.36%International Power (IPR) 310.00p +3.09%SEGRO (SGRO) 269.00p +2.83%ARM Holdings (ARM) 280.60p +2.78%FTSE 100 - FallersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 343.40p -2.64%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 578.00p -1.53%Burberry Group (BRBY) 758.50p -1.37%Whitbread (WTB) 1,370.00p -1.30%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 852.00p -1.22%Invensys (ISYS) 252.40p -1.21%Essar Energy (ESSR) 455.00p -1.09%Schroders (SDR) 1,192.00p -1.00%Serco Group (SRP) 559.00p -0.80%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,119.00p -0.76%FTSE 250 - RisersJKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 262.20p +7.02%Wellstream Holdings (WSM) 482.90p +5.41%Imagination Technologies (IMG) 291.90p +5.38%SDL International (SDL) 491.30p +4.71%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 462.40p +4.47%Premier Farnell (PFL) 223.00p +4.21%Fidessa (FDSA) 1,380.00p +4.07%Computacenter (CCC) 270.00p +3.85%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 126.50p +3.77%St James's Place (STJ) 229.00p +3.62%FTSE 250 - FallersAquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 294.20p -6.54%Telecity Group (TCY) 376.40p -4.47%SIG (SHI) 100.00p -3.19%Dana Petroleum (DNX) 1,409.00p -3.03%Rank Group (RNK) 98.75p -2.90%De La Rue (DLAR) 920.00p -2.49%Ashtead Group (AHT) 94.30p -2.28%Inchcape (INCH) 255.90p -2.25%Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 325.00p -2.23%International Personal Finance (IPF) 200.50p -2.20%