London midday: Banks, miners provide a lift after China data

Cyclical stocks welcomed in-line gross domestic product (GDP) figures from China on Monday morning with the FTSE 100 nearly hitting seven-week highs early on.London's benchmark index started the new week trading near the 6,600 level; the last time the FTSE 100 closed higher was on May 30th. Gains were paired by midday but the Footsie was still trading firmly in the blue, in line with indices across Europe.As expected, the annual rate of Chinese GDP growth fell from 7.7% to 7.5%. This will come as a relief to investors after the country's Finance Minister warned on Friday that growth would average 7.0% in 2013, below the government's 7.5% target.Meanwhile, industrial production growth slowed down more than expected in June, from 9.2% to 8.9% (forecast: 9.1%), but retail sales unexpectedly accelerated from 12.9% to 13.3% (forecast: 12.9%)."Q2 GDP numbers from China that met 7.5% forecasts left the market breathing a collective sigh of relief this morning, with concerns of a significant slowdown in the world's second-largest economy seen as a potential hurdle for the recent equity market bounce," said Matt Basi, Head of UK Sales Trading at CMC Markets.Helping sentiment further this morning was another record close on Wall Street on Friday after both JPMorgan and Wells Fargo beat consensus estimates with their quarterly results. "Traders may now set the crosshairs on all-time highs in the US indices, with the levels within touching distance. Given that [quantitative easing] tapering and Eurozone political travails have apparently returned to the back burner, bulls may seek impetus from corporate earnings, with a string of US blue chips due to provide updates this week," Basi said.Citigroup and Boeing will be in focus today on Wall Street ahead of their earnings releases, as well as US retail sales data for June.FTSE 100: Cyclicals gain after Chinese dataBanking and mining stocks were in demand this morning as concerns over the global economy eased slightly. RBS, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC were higher with the latter announcing this morning that it is offloading its private banking assets in Germany.Resource firms including Glencore Xstrata and Rio Tinto were also making gains. Burberry, another stock heavily exposed to the Chinese economy, was also advancing this morning.Drugs giant AstraZeneca fell after revealing that CFO Simon Lowth would be leaving to join oil and gas firm BG Group.Meanwhile, G4S and Serco were still under pressure from the fall-out of a Serious Fraud Office investigation into overcharging on public-sector outsourcing contracts. According to weekend reports, security firm G4S has talked with big shareholders about a possible rights issue to repair its balance sheet.FTSE 250: Salamander falls after abandoning wellSalamander Energy's shares dropped this morning after saying it plugged and abandoned its G4/50-4 exploration well in the Gulf of Thailand. The well encountered a 119 metre section of quality P20 Miocene sandstones, but they were found to be water-wet following logging and sampling.Retail chains were heading the other way after some upbeat industry data from the British Retail Consortium showed that footfall on the High Street and out-of-town locations rose in June. Supergroup, Sports Direct and Home Retail were all on shopping lists this morning.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 314.90p +3.45%Schroders (SDR) 2,484.00p +2.39%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 68.89p +1.71%Capita (CPI) 1,043.00p +1.56%Smiths Group (SMIN) 1,391.00p +1.46%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,655.00p +1.35%Glencore Xstrata (GLEN) 263.90p +1.32%Barclays (BARC) 309.60p +1.13%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,830.00p +1.11%ARM Holdings (ARM) 906.50p +1.06%FTSE 100 - FallersAberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 400.30p -3.29%Aggreko (AGK) 1,763.00p -2.70%Sage Group (SGE) 358.10p -2.40%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,272.00p -1.70%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,328.00p -1.48%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,088.00p -1.18%G4S (GFS) 207.10p -1.15%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 316.10p -0.75%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 380.20p -0.68%Antofagasta (ANTO) 827.00p -0.66%FTSE 250 - RisersSupergroup (SGP) 936.00p +4.41%Sports Direct International (SPD) 591.50p +4.23%COLT Group SA (COLT) 111.40p +3.82%Elementis (ELM) 244.80p +3.77%Perform Group (PER) 500.00p +3.48%Home Retail Group (HOME) 149.70p +3.17%Crest Nicholson Holdings (CRST) 365.20p +2.61%AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 348.40p +2.50%Pace (PIC) 273.00p +2.29%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 278.60p +2.24%FTSE 250 - FallersAveva Group (AVV) 2,455.00p -7.90%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 140.00p -7.71%Man Group (EMG) 88.25p -4.02%Genus (GNS) 1,359.00p -3.48%Spirent Communications (SPT) 118.30p -2.39%Senior (SNR) 274.40p -2.17%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 250.70p -1.76%Computacenter (CCC) 501.00p -1.76%Rotork (ROR) 2,775.00p -1.74%IP Group (IPO) 151.10p -1.56%BC