London midday: Footsie drops to three-week low

- GDF looks to buy remaining stake in Int'l Power- Imperial has smoking second quarter - Travel groups drop on the FTSE 250London's blue chips had sank by midday, falling well below the 5,800 level after earlier strength in the mining sector faded. The FTSE 100 has not closed under this level in over three weeks.In macro-economic news, eyes were on the Eurozone as, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg, finance ministers could finally decide tomorrow to boost the firewall to nearly €1tn by running the EFSF (€200bn) and ESM (€500bn) simultaneously as well as a further €240bn available if the initial capacity proves insufficient. Closer to home, house prices in the UK fell by 1% month-on-month in March, according to Nationwide. The year-on-year fall was 0.9%. Consensus estimates were for growth of 0.3% and 0.8%, respectively.Meanwhile, total lending to individuals rose by £1.6bn in February (consensus: £1.4bn), according to data just released by the Bank of England (BoE). That compares favourably to the previous six-month average increase of £1.3bn. The twelve-month growth rate was unchanged at 1.0%.IPR SURGES AFTER GDF APPROACHUK utility giant International Power was leading the risers at lunchtime after it confirmed that it has received a non-binding indicative proposal from French electricity giant GDF Suez to buy-up the remaining stake in the firm. The 390p-a-share cash approach - for the remaining 30% interest in International Power that it does not already own - is a slight premium to yesterday's closing price of 383.4p and values the business at just under £20bn. Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco was also a high riser after saying it improved its revenue and profit momentum as it entered the second half of its financial year. First half reported tobacco net revenues (at constant exchange rates) are expected to increase by around 3%, compared with the 1% fall in the three months to the end of December. High street retailing peers Marks & Spencer and Next were among the worst performers after first-quarter numbers from the world's third-largest clothes retailer, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), missed estimates. Elsewhere in the sector, shares in Home Retail fell after the company announced that its long-standing Chairman, Oliver Stocken, is to retire after 12 years on the job. Earlier strength in the mining sector faded quickly after UBS cut its target prices for several mining stocks under its coverage. The Swiss broker also made a number of ratings downgrades, cutting its recommendations for Antofagasta, Kazakhmys and Petropavlovsk. FTSE 250: TRAVEL STOCKS TAKE A HIT Transport firm FirstGroup said that lower economic activity in the north of England is putting pressure on its UK Bus business, causing shares to tumble in early trade. The group said like-for-like revenues in UK Bus, in the 12 months to the end of March, will be 1.5% ahead of 2010-2011. The North of England and Scotland however are seeing "considerably lower" growth rates and that's where 60% of revenues are generated. Transport stocks on the whole have all be hit by the Department of Transport which has announced the runners and riders for the three rail franchises it has up for renewal. Sector peers Stagecoach, Go-Ahead and National Express were all out of favour. Among the announcements was that Go-Ahead has not been invited to bid for the Essex Thameside contract. Go-Ahead says it will be seeking feedback from the Department for Transport on the failure.Cape, the provider of non-mechanical support services to the energy and mineral resources sectors, dropped after announcing that Martin May is standing down as Chief Executive and as a director of the company with immediate effect to 'pursue a new challenge'. Heading the other way was private equity investment group 3i after saying that, after a tough start to the year, market sentiment has improved in the last couple of months leading to a strong performance in the company's investment portfolio.BCFTSE 100 - RisersInternational Power (IPR) 405.50p +5.76%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,570.00p +1.98%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,377.50p +1.85%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 677.00p +0.59%G4S (GFS) 275.90p +0.51%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,616.00p +0.44%ITV (ITV) 87.75p +0.40%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,505.00p +0.27%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 178.60p +0.22%Meggitt (MGGT) 398.80p +0.20%FTSE 100 - FallersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 372.40p -3.07%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 329.50p -2.28%CRH (CRH) 1,261.00p -2.25%British Land Co (BLND) 475.70p -2.08%GKN (GKN) 202.80p -2.08%Barclays (BARC) 240.55p -2.06%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 33.75p -1.99%Tesco (TSCO) 330.05p -1.99%Wolseley (WOS) 2,398.00p -1.92%Aviva (AV.) 330.30p -1.87%FTSE 250 - RisersBwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 151.10p +3.35%3i Group (III) 210.60p +3.24%Drax Group (DRX) 538.50p +2.67%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 435.90p +1.32%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 185.20p +1.26%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 284.70p +1.10%COLT Group SA (COLT) 106.80p +1.04%Computacenter (CCC) 440.20p +0.87%TR Property Inv Trust Sigma Shares (TRYS) 70.60p +0.43%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 453.90p +0.42%FTSE 250 - FallersFirstGroup (FGP) 249.90p -13.56%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 18.01p -6.49%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 138.00p -4.83%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,240.00p -4.69%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 139.40p -4.65%National Express Group (NEX) 241.20p -4.29%Petropavlovsk (POG) 596.50p -3.95%Renishaw (RSW) 1,241.00p -3.87%Cape (CIU) 423.70p -3.75%Centamin (DI) (CEY) 68.50p -3.59%