London midday: Clegg statement calms markets

After initially reacting negatively to the prospect of a hung parliament London's leading shares have rallied after Liberal Democratic party leader Nick Clegg said he is sticking with his pre-election view that the party with the most votes - in this case the Conservatives - should have first crack at forming a government. Fallers still outnumber risers by four to one among FTSE 100 constituents but the index is only marginally lower thanks to a strong performance by the mining sector, where Rio Tinto, Xstrata, BHP Billiton and Randgold Resources are the best performers.Index heavyweight HSBC is also doing its bit to bolster the index. The banking giant said it had a 'very good' start to 2010 that was well ahead of the same quarter the previous year. The bank's personal financial services and commercial banking divisions accounted for most of the improvement, HSBC said, with the global banking and markets division also ahead.Elsewhere in the banking sector part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland is sharply lower even though it moved into profit at the operating level during the first quarter of 2010 as impairment charges fell, although there was still a small pre-tax loss. Operating profit for the three months to 31 March was £713m compared with a £1.35bn loss a year ago, but the bank lost £21m before tax. BP says its 'coffer dam' has arrived at the site of the leak in the Gulf of Mexico and should be in place within two days as it attempts to stem the flow of oil from the crippled Deepwater Horizon rig. It may also need some sort of wall to protect it from the wave of writs heading its way for the tragedy. The Times reports that up to 200 American lawyers are planning a class action representing hundreds of individuals and businesses affected by the Gulf of Mexico spill.Underwriter Chaucer has estimated its net losses from the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster in the Gulf of Mexico at $25m. Rival underwriter Catlin estimated its exposure to Deepwater Horizon-related claims in second quarter at $40m net of reinsurance and reinstatements.Most of British Airways' cabin crew have voted against a new offer which bosses hoped would bring a long-running dispute over pay and conditions to an end. The Unite union said of the 71% who voted, 81% were against the airline's proposals, in line with the its recommendation.ITV warned that the market outlook for the second half highly uncertain as it reported a 6% rise in revenues. The broadcaster's revenues in the first half increased to £450m compared with £425m last time. Broadcasting and online revenues were also up 6% to £390m, while ITV Studios external revenues rose 7% to £60m (2009: £56m), with internal production revenues at £73m (2009: £75m).Outsourcing specialists such as Capita and Serco are out of favour as the markets try to get to grips with what the election result will mean for public spending. Flight cancellations following last month's volcanic ash cloud from Iceland left passenger numbers at easyJet down 7.6% on April 2009 and 800,000 less than expected. The low-cost airline sold 3.49m tickets in April, down from 3.78m a year earlier, but the company had expected to fly 4.3m passengers, which would have represented growth of 14%. FTSE 100 - RisersRio Tinto (RIO) 3,269.50p +5.25%Xstrata (XTA) 1,037.00p +4.29%BHP Billiton (BLT) 1,945.00p +3.87%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 648.20p +3.15%Vedanta Resources (VED) 2,415.00p +3.07%Randgold Resources (RRS) 5,740.00p +2.87%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,641.50p +1.86%Eurasian Natural Resources (ENRC) 1,052.00p +1.64%Anglo American (AAL) 2,583.50p +1.49%Lonmin (LMI) 1,746.00p +1.10%FTSE 100 - FallersCapita Group (CPI) 774.00p -5.21%Wolseley (WOS) 1,463.00p -4.75%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 221.60p -4.61%British Land Co (BLND) 431.40p -3.88%Land Securities Group (LAND) 603.50p -3.82%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 46.39p -3.82%BT Group (BT.A) 113.00p -3.67%Hammerson (HMSO) 346.80p -3.61%SEGRO (SGRO) 278.50p -3.50%ARM Holdings (ARM) 235.80p -3.48%