London midday: Banks in front as rally continues

Stocks are going strong after this morning's gains, with banks prominent among the risers, continuing their advance following the eurozone deal yesterday.Barclays, RBS and Lloyds are posting good gains.However, today's standout stock is easyJet, with the budget airline up 15% after saying it expects full-year pre-tax profits to fall in the range of £200m to £230m. Market consensus is for an adjusted profit before tax of £183.1m.Also in travel, Thomas Cook is posting flying high following yesterday's announcement that the Competition Commission has provisionally waved through the merger of its travel agents business with the travel agent operations of The Co-Operative Group and the Midlands Co-Operative.Paper and packaging firm Mondi, also higher today, expects profits for the first half of 2011 to be "considerably higher" than in the same period last year, it said in an announcement today.New World Resources, the central Europe focused coal miner, has reiterated its full year production and sales targets, but prices have been falling. The shares are lower. It said average agreed price of coking coal for delivery in the third calendar quarter of 2011 is €192 a tonne, a decrease of 9% from the second quarter realised price, "in line with lower international prices both for hard and semi-soft coking coal."Back in the FTSE 100, outsourcing giant Capita is in demand after it announced the acquisition of pensions administration and software business of Northgate Arinso for £27.5m. NorthgateArinso - which has been purchased on a cash-free and debt-free basis - has a largely private sector client base including Aviva, Boots, Michelin and Rentokil, and made a pro forma operation profit of £4.7m on sales of £10.1m in the year ended 30 April. Mobile phone networks giant Vodafone has seen revenue from its core business grow 1.5% in the second quarter of 2011 although the firm is certainly struggling against some serious headwinds in some markets, particularly in southern Europe. The group reiterated its previous performance guidance for the current financial year.Turning to smaller companies, Blavod Wine and Spirits has taken a tumble after it warned that sales and losses were below the board's expectations in its traditionally weak first quarter. As a result the owner of Blavod Black Vodka now expects results for the current year ending 31 March 2012 to fall short of market expectations. Education IT services provider RM falls after saying it had a tough time between 1 April and 21 July and thinks its performance may have been below expectations. The company, which has previously detailed the impact of education spending cuts in the UK and the US, said markets remain difficult.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 37.77p +4.77%Barclays (BARC) 247.65p +3.25%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,905.00p +3.08%IMI (IMI) 1,094.00p +3.01%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 244.10p +2.65%International Power (IPR) 310.50p +2.48%Capita Group (CPI) 702.50p +2.41%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 362.10p +2.37%Lonmin (LMI) 1,340.00p +2.37%Aviva (AV.) 429.90p +2.36%FTSE 100 - FallersEssar Energy (ESSR) 380.60p -0.89%AstraZeneca (AZN) 3,066.00p -0.84%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,620.50p -0.55%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 649.00p -0.54%SABMiller (SAB) 2,299.00p -0.45%Amec (AMEC) 1,120.00p -0.44%Rexam (REX) 383.00p -0.31%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 656.50p -0.30%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,338.50p -0.15%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,586.00p -0.13%FTSE 250 - RiserseasyJet (EZJ) 355.60p +13.72%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 72.45p +6.54%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 63.40p +6.47%Debenhams (DEB) 68.85p +5.19%Exillon Energy (EXI) 445.30p +5.17%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 431.00p +5.12%Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 322.10p +4.75%Britvic (BVIC) 379.90p +4.66%COLT Group SA (COLT) 119.00p +4.39%Halfords Group (HFD) 356.30p +4.33%FTSE 250 - FallersDignity (DTY) 797.00p -1.60%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 143.60p -1.44%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 248.90p -1.31%BH Macro Ltd. EUR Shares (BHME) € 17.42 -1.02%Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 693.50p -0.79%PZ Cussons (PZC) 377.10p -0.76%Dunelm Group (DNLM) 464.50p -0.75%QinetiQ Group (QQ.) 117.00p -0.68%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 871.00p -0.63%Renishaw (RSW) 1,779.00p -0.61%