London close: Deficit narrows

Losses halved during the afternoon session as it looked increasingly likely the Liberal Democrats will jump into bed with the Conservative party and form a coalition government.Buyers nibbled at weak miners and banks, down sharply earlier on doubts about the €750bn Eurozone bailout plan.Kazakhmys, Vedanta, Xstrata and ENRC all clawed back a little ground in late trade, although Randgold Resources rallied through the day as gold neared a new record high above $1,200 an ounce.Banks struggled all day, but Standard Chartered was the only one left among the ten biggest blue chip losers. Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC fought back as Wall Street dragged itself out of the red just before London closed.Taxpayer-owned RBS has also agreed to pay the US government $500m to settle charges it conspired to violate the US Bank Secrecy Act. The Department of Justice said ABN Amro, the lender RBS bought in 2007, had helped banks and customers from blacklisted countries, such as Cuba, Iran, Libya, and Sudan, to carry out transactions. Barclays and Lloyds are also suffering.There was good news on the economic front. Britain's manufacturing sector delivered a "really spectacular" performance in March as demand increased and the weak pound made British goods more competitive. Industrial production, which accounts for 17% of GDP, rose 2% in March compared with previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics.Among the risers was service company Serco, which is on track to meet its financial guidance for 2010 after a strong performance in the first half of the year so far. The company, whose activities include operating London's Docklands Light Railway and prison vans, entered 2010 with a record order book of £17.1bn. It has signed contracts worth about £1bn so far this year.Life insurer Aviva grew sales for the second successive quarter as its core life and pensions businesses in the UK and Europe pushed ahead. Long-term savings sales for three months to March this year rose by 16% over the previous quarter to over £10.2bn, in line with the first quarter of 2009.TUI Travel is to take a £90m hit for the impact of the disruption caused by the volcanic ash cloud, but intends to sue national governments to get the money back. The tour operator added that forward bookings have held up well despite the disruption though pre-tax losses increased to £367m from £333m in the half-year to March. Revenues fell 8% to £4.93bn from £5.38bn.Weakness in the firm's share price is not justified in Panmure Gordon's view and the broker raises its rating on the company, which owns the Thomson brand, to 'buy' from 'hold'.Intercontinental Hotels saw its first quarter of higher revenues per available room in a year and a half in the three months to March 31 as the global economic outlook improved. Revenue climbed to $362m from $351m in the first quarter of 2009, helping to lift the Holiday Inn owner's adjusted earnings per share to 17.4 cents from 15.5 cents.Another company hit by the volcano cloud, EasyJet, reported a smaller than expected first half loss but cut its full year profit forecast due to the travel disruption. The carrier revised its profit expectations for the year to a range of £100m to £150m at current exchange rates and fuel price, down from expectations of £175m to £200m prior to the recent volcanic ash related disruption.Recent listing Supergroup will report sales rose by 83% over the previous year when it reports its first figures since it joined the stock market. The fashion group behind the Superdry label said total sales for year to end April rose by £63m to £139m. Retail sales were up 75% to £85m (an increase of £36m) with like-for-like sales up 17% for the year. Wholesale sales rose by 98% to £54m.Engineering support services group Babcock International reported a rise in profits in the year to March 31 and said it expected to see continuing demand for its efficiency-delivering services as pressure on public spending increases.Pub group Enterprise Inns is a stand-out riser after the pub group said it had agrees a £625m debt facility. The company, which leases out pubs to landlords rather than managing them centrally, has been struggling with difficult trading conditions in recent years, as was underlined by a fall in profits reported today. Fellow tenanted pub group Punch Taverns is higher in sympathy.FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources (RRS) 5,870.00p +5.20%Aggreko (AGK) 1,279.00p +3.06%BT Group (BT.A) 118.90p +2.24%ICAP (IAP) 371.30p +1.03%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,832.00p +0.99%Carnival (CCL) 2,707.00p +0.89%National Grid (NG.) 612.50p +0.74%Cobham (COB) 246.00p +0.61%BAE Systems (BA.) 341.30p +0.50%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 579.50p +0.43%FTSE 100 - FallersCapital & Counties Properties (WI) (CAPC) 123.00p -8.21%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,270.00p -4.15%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,451.00p -3.92%Xstrata (XTA) 1,050.00p -3.85%TUI Travel (TT.) 248.90p -3.79%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 50.00p -3.38%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 219.00p -3.23%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 81.10p -3.22%Capita Group (CPI) 775.00p -3.06%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,702.00p -3.05%FTSE 250 - RisersEnterprise Inns (ETI) 139.30p +14.09%Babcock International Group (BAB) 588.00p +5.57%Punch Taverns (PUB) 83.40p +5.57%PartyGaming (PRTY) 284.20p +4.06%888 Holdings (888) 75.80p +3.84%Marston's (MARS) 96.00p +3.23%VT Group (VTG) 753.50p +3.22%Booker Group (BOK) 40.75p +3.16%Connaught (CNT) 324.80p +3.14%Rank Group (RNK) 118.80p +3.13%FTSE 250 - FallersGartmore Group (GRT) 146.20p -4.69%Spirent Communications (SPT) 109.30p -4.37%easyJet (EZJ) 423.50p -4.23%Bellway (BWY) 710.00p -4.05%Berkeley Group Holdings (BKG) 776.50p -4.02%Yell Group (YELL) 48.00p -4.00%Redrow (RDW) 137.80p -3.91%RPS Group (RPS) 208.10p -3.88%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 382.10p -3.75%Gem Diamonds (GEMD) 272.80p -3.60%