London midday: All eyes on Bernanke and G7

UK equities are now registering moderate gains and near their best levels of the day, buoyed by another rise in risk appetite which seemed to take its cue from the sharp move lower in the Japanese Yen overnight.Some investors attributed that move in foreign exchange markets to cautious comments out from China´s central bank, yesterday afternoon. A more likely explanation, however, would seem to be US Philadelphia Federal Reserve bank President Charles Plosser´s words regarding his open-mindedness over how to cease quantitative easing, should incoming economic data continue improving up as until now. In any case, this afternoon will see US Fed President Ben S.Bernanke take the podium himself, which may help to clear things up. As well, there is keen interest in whether this weekend´s meeting of the G7 nations will sanction the weakening yen or, alternatively, if it will raise objections.The Italian Treasury sold €7bn of 12 month bills at a record low yield of 0.703%, but ahead of the 0.60/0.65% which had been mooted by some analysts ahead of the auction.Back in the UK, the trade balance improved to £3.1bn in March, compared with a deficit of £3.4bn in February, as exports rose by 3.5%. Nevertheless, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) cautioned that although exports in March were the highest since July 2012 the broad pattern remains flat, as has been the case since Autumn 2011. Having said that, sales to the United States did improve notably in March.Lastly, the US Treasury will release its latest monthly budget statement this evening. Not to be missed either, besides Bernanke, at least two other Fed policymakers are due to take to the podium this afternoon.BT on the cusp of renewed top-line growth?BT has raised its guidance for free cash flows - by 2015 - to £2.6bn, which came in a whopping 7.5% ahead of market estimates. More important even, the company may be on the cusp of a return to top-line growth, which means the above is not simply reliant on cost-cutting. That, at least, is what Bank of America-Merrill Lynch was telling clients this morning. Analysts at the global broker raised their target on BT to 325p from 275p, while upgrading their recommendation to a buy. TUI Travel narrowed its half-year losses as revenues from unique holiday bookings and on-line sales grew. The leisure travel group reported a loss before tax of £346m for the six months to March-end, a 6.0% reduction on the prior year's £367m loss.Shire has announced that its subsidiary, Shire Development LLC, prevailed in its litigation against Watson Pharmaceuticals in connection with their Abbreviated New Drug Application for a generic version of Shire's delayed release tablets for the induction of remission in adults with active, mild to moderate ulcerative colitis.International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) widened its first quarter losses reflecting the costs of restructuring its Spanish carrier Iberia. The parent company of British Airways reported an operating loss of €278m, before exceptional items, up from the previous year's €249m loss. After coming under intense pressure from the government Anglo American Platinum, a unit of Anglo American, announced that it will only cut 6,000 mining jobs in South Africa, less than half the 14,000 initially planned. A report by Kofi Annan´s Africa Progress Panel lambasted Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) for "opaque concession trading" which, it calculates, cost the Democratic Republic of Congo $725m as a result of he alleged undervaluation of state assets in five deals. ENRC was involved in three of those.The non-binding recommendations made by the Egyptian State Commissioner's Office to the Supreme Administrative Court, regarding conflicting claims over gold miner Centamin´s Sukari mine "were not positive," the company has announced. Stock of 'on-line' grocer Ocado is now the second best performer on the FTSE 350 after analysts at Goldman Sachs upgraded the shares to 'buy' from 'neutral.' Panmure Gordon, for its part, hiked its price target to 130p from 50p, albeit while reiterating its recommendation to 'sell.' FTSE 100 - RisersBT Group (BT.A) 305.80p +10.92%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,019.00p +4.39%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 299.70p +2.81%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 301.20p +2.52%Meggitt (MGGT) 509.50p +1.98%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,327.00p +1.62%Barclays (BARC) 314.90p +1.58%ITV (ITV) 130.00p +1.56%TUI Travel (TT.) 345.80p +1.53%Pearson (PSON) 1,204.00p +1.52%FTSE 100 - FallersInternational Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 272.10p -2.99%G4S (GFS) 248.70p -2.47%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,398.00p -2.10%Anglo American (AAL) 1,635.00p -1.92%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,155.00p -1.34%Amec (AMEC) 1,055.00p -1.12%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,027.00p -1.06%Experian (EXPN) 1,234.00p -1.04%IMI (IMI) 1,326.00p -0.82%Old Mutual (OML) 218.60p -0.82%FTSE 250 - RisersOcado Group (OCDO) 231.10p +10.79%Morgan Advance Materials (MGAM) 286.00p +5.19%Inmarsat (ISAT) 698.00p +4.18%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 379.10p +3.38%Fenner (FENR) 379.80p +3.38%BBA Aviation (BBA) 269.60p +3.33%St. Modwen Properties (SMP) 294.30p +2.94%IP Group (IPO) 149.00p +2.55%Laird (LRD) 208.30p +2.36%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 139.70p +2.12%FTSE 250 - FallersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 38.80p -14.91%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 97.50p -3.27%Lonmin (LMI) 290.60p -3.20%Perform Group (PER) 530.00p -2.84%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 204.50p -2.15%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 29.13p -2.08%Pennon Group (PNN) 666.50p -1.84%SIG (SHI) 167.10p -1.82%United Drug (UDG) 334.00p -1.76%Rathbone Brothers (RAT) 1,488.00p -1.52%FTSE TechMARK - RisersParity Group (PTY) 48.75p +10.80%RM (RM.) 75.50p +2.03%Microgen (MCGN) 120.50p +1.69%Vislink (VLK) 30.25p +0.83%Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) 201.50p +0.75%CML Microsystems (CML) 425.00p +0.59%Ricardo (RCDO) 389.31p +0.53%Sepura (SEPU) 109.50p +0.23%Innovation Group (TIG) 26.50p 0.00%Triad Group (TRD) 6.50p 0.00%FTSE TechMARK - FallersArk Therapeutics Group (AKT) 0.41p -5.75%Xaar (XAR) 520.00p -3.70%Kofax (KFX) 316.25p -2.62%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 143.25p -2.55%XP Power Ltd. (DI) (XPP) 1,207.00p -1.47%Vectura Group (VEC) 91.50p -1.08%Optos (OPTS) 157.00p -0.40%Innovation Group (TIG) 26.50p 0.00%Triad Group (TRD) 6.50p 0.00%Antisoma (ASM) 1.77p 0.00%AB