London midday: Banks, miners lead markets higher

Improved appetite for risk helped equities in the banking and mining sectors on Tuesday morning, pushing the FTSE 100 to levels not seen in over a month.London's benchmark index was trading at around 6,500 this morning, a mark not reached since the start of June when markets were beginning to price in the impending withdrawal of quantitative easing in the States."A bullish close to US equity markets last night has fed through into European gains this morning as the strong bounce from the June sell-off gathers pace," said Matt Basi, Head of UK Sales Trading at CMC Markets.Aluminium producer Alcoa kicked off corporate earnings season last night in the US and didn't disappoint, reporting adjusted earnings per share of seven cents, ahead of the six cents forecast, though consensus forecasts had been trimmed in the lead-up to the results given recent falls in metal prices. Also helping sentiment this morning was the news that finance ministers in the Eurozone have granted Greece its first €2.5bn instalment of the next tranche of aid, if it meets prior conditions. Greece will also get a further €500m in October."The discussions between Greece and its creditors have been far smoother in the lead up to today's agreement than we have become accustomed to, which may be why investors have responded so well to it," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.FTSE 100: Banks and miners gain as risk appetite improvesBanking groups RBS, Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and Standard Chartered were on the rise this morning with RBS leading the way after the government's response to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards.Analyst Ian Gordon from Investec raised his target price for RBS and kept a 'buy' rating, saying: "Despite some vociferous support in Parliament, the Commission's more outlandish ideas for breaking RBS up into small pieces have been summarily dismissed. The spectre of a good bank/bad bank split lives on, but it will surely fail to meet the stated preconditions for its implementation. This is very good news."Mining peers Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BHP Billiton, Fresnillo, Vedanta and Antofagasta were also among the best performers this morning as metals prices improved. Rio Tinto was boosted by the news that its part-owned giant copper-gold mine in Mongolia, Oyu Tolgoi, has started shipping copper concentrate to customers. Marks & Spencer however was lower after reporting a 0.3% rise in like-for-like sales in the first quarter, as a strong performance in Food continues to be partly offset by weakness in General Merchandise. Investors cheered oil group Shell's announcement that Downstream Director Ben van Beurden has been appointed as CEO, succeeding Peter Voser who steps down after 29 years with the company. FTSE 250: Ferrexpo, Centamin impress with production figuresIron ore producer Ferrexpo surged today after reporting an 11.4% increase in group pellet production year-on-year in the first half. Analyst Louise Collinge from Investec said that this puts the company on track to hit her full-year pellet output of 10.7m tonnes.Centamin achieved record gold production at its Sukari Gold Mine in Egypt in the three months to end of June, causing shares to jump this morning. Total gold production for the second quarter came to 93,624 ounces, up 39% from a year earlier and up 8.0% from the previous quarter. Mining peers Hochschild Mining, Polymetal and Lonmin were also higher, with the latter benefitting from an upgrade by Westhouse Securities from 'sell' to 'neutral'.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 299.80p +3.81%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,038.00p +2.98%Anglo American (AAL) 1,282.00p +2.97%Fresnillo (FRES) 947.00p +2.82%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,732.50p +2.58%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,157.00p +2.52%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,283.00p +2.48%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 878.50p +2.39%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,235.00p +2.22%Hammerson (HMSO) 531.00p +2.21%FTSE 100 - FallersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 451.50p -1.78%Capita (CPI) 1,020.00p -1.64%easyJet (EZJ) 1,334.00p -1.48%William Hill (WMH) 459.50p -1.48%ITV (ITV) 150.60p -1.44%BT Group (BT.A) 331.60p -1.07%Persimmon (PSN) 1,254.00p -1.03%Next (NXT) 4,733.00p -0.82%Serco Group (SRP) 680.00p -0.51%Whitbread (WTB) 3,157.00p -0.44%FTSE 250 - RisersAveva Group (AVV) 2,475.00p +9.13%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 149.80p +8.00%Henderson Group (HGG) 172.50p +7.14%Kier Group (KIE) 1,320.00p +5.60%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 175.40p +5.16%RPS Group (RPS) 235.00p +3.89%Debenhams (DEB) 101.50p +3.68%Ashmore Group (ASHM) 354.80p +3.44%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 110.80p +3.36%Polymetal International (POLY) 489.40p +3.16%FTSE 250 - FallersEvraz (EVR) 92.50p -6.66%Telecity Group (TCY) 992.50p -3.08%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 42.18p -2.81%Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 520.00p -2.16%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 269.00p -1.72%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 104.50p -1.69%Galliford Try (GFRD) 995.00p -1.49%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 37.90p -1.20%Direct Line Insurance Group (DLG) 226.40p -1.18%SIG (SHI) 169.30p -1.17%