London midday: Banks fall, Footsie flat

The Footsie pared gains and was trading flat by midday with banking stocks providing a drag ahead of the government's response to Sir John Vickers' report into banking.The Bank of England's Quarterly Bulletin revealed that 56% of households surveyed reckoned that income available after tax, insurance, housing costs, loan repayments and bills has declined over the past year. A lucky 13% said their income had risen over the same period.Financial stocks were heading lower at midday, with Lloyds, Man Group, ICAP and Barclays falling. Banks on the whole were lower as the market awaited a speech in the House of Commons today by Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, in which he is expected to endorse the changes to the UK banking scene proposed by the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB). The ICB has recommended that lenders should be forced to ring-fence their High Street lending operations from the investment banking activities, as a means of ensuring that banks which drop a bundle investing in the markets can be allowed to go belly-up, without dragging down retail customers with them. The banking industry has vehemently opposed the restriction, arguing that it would restrict their ability to compete with international competitors.Standard Chartered fell on reports that it could cut the size of its South Korean workforce by up to 13%. According to the Financial Times, the bank believes it will be the final stage of "a painful overhaul of costs and corporate culture" which this past summer sparked South Korea's longest banking strike, lasting two months. Meanwhile, Royal Bank of Scotland could shut down more than half of its Global Banking and Markets (GBM) division in an operation that may offload stockbroking business Hoare Govett before a complete closure of its equity business. 18,900 employees at GBM were already warned of the possibility of large-scale layoffs.Carnival was making gains ahead of its fourth quarter results tomorrow. Evolution Securities reiterated its buy rating on the cruise operator today, saying that it expects surplus cash-flow to jump sharply and much of this should be returned to shareholders via dividends and buy-backs.Tobacco stocks were on the up, with giants Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco making good gains.After raising its profits forecasts twice already this year, Aggreko has informed that full-year profits are expected to slightly ahead of the previous guidance given in October. The temporary power and temperature control provider was among the best performers today.Online grocer Ocado dropped on the FTSE 250 after it said progress on sorting out capacity constraints had not been as swift as it hoped. The group said its full year profits would be up on last year but had been hampered by distribution issues. Earnings are expected to be in the range of £27.5m to £28.5m in the year to 27 November, compared to £22m in 2010. Sales and profits continued to fall at HMV as the firm puts its faith in gadgetry to turn fortunes around. Total sales from continuing operations were £364.9m in the six months to 27 October, down 17.6% on the year before. Shares dropped over 10%.Shares in Yellow Pages publisher Yell Group roared higher on Monday morning after its lenders agreed on amendments to financing. Yell had been in talks with its lenders since November to increase the headroom under its net debt-to-EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) covenant, as well as other debt-related and administrative amendments. BCFTSE 100 - RisersImperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,380.00p +2.37%Carnival (CCL) 2,187.00p +1.72%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,104.00p +1.56%ARM Holdings (ARM) 559.00p +1.54%SABMiller (SAB) 2,183.00p +1.51%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 295.00p +1.34%Aggreko (AGK) 1,841.00p +1.32%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,137.00p +1.28%Unilever (ULVR) 2,093.00p +1.26%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,080.00p +1.22%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 23.89p -2.49%Man Group (EMG) 124.50p -2.43%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,064.00p -1.94%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,523.00p -1.93%BP (BP.) 437.75p -1.79%Evraz (EVR) 361.50p -1.50%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,313.00p -1.20%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,900.00p -1.04%ICAP (IAP) 331.40p -1.02%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,321.50p -0.92%FTSE 250 - RisersDomino Printing Sciences (DNO) 509.50p +5.77%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 632.00p +5.69%Booker Group (BOK) 73.00p +5.19%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 179.20p +4.73%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,730.00p +4.28%Northgate (NTG) 200.00p +4.28%Ashtead Group (AHT) 216.00p +3.05%William Hill (WMH) 188.80p +3.00%Regus (RGU) 81.35p +2.65%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 60.75p +2.62%FTSE 250 - FallersOcado Group (OCDO) 64.60p -9.27%Shanks Group (SKS) 90.00p -5.36%Carpetright (CPR) 492.00p -4.74%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 152.90p -4.44%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 141.20p -4.21%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 258.70p -3.22%JPMorgan Russian Securities (JRS) 484.30p -2.95%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 427.50p -2.51%CSR (CSR) 182.10p -2.46%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 456.70p -2.39%