London midday: Footsie rallies after early decline

- Greece making progress- Monti warns of Eurozone break-up- M&S, Evraz, GKN provide a lift on the FootsieFollowing an early fall, the Footsie swung into the blue by Monday lunchtime on the back of improving newsflow from Greece.After a meeting between the Troika (European Commission, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) and Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras in Athens at the weekend, the institutions issued a joint statement, saying: "The discussions on the implementation of the programme were productive and there was an overall agreement on the need to strengthen policy efforts to achieve its objectives."Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said at the weekend that his country does not need to ask for aid. He told La Repubblica that if the Eurozone economy continues to contract, "we can expect a more accommodating monetary policy in the next few months". However, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is thought to have hinted this weekend that Spain my request a full bailout. "However, he also claimed that there was no rush for a decision to be made, with 70% of Spain's financing needs for the year already raised. He will now wait and see what conditions would accompany a bailout before making a decision," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari.According to Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti in an interview with German publication Der Spiegel, the Eurozone tensions "bear the traits of a psychological dissolution of Europe." Talking about the growing resentment between southern and northern European nations, he said that "it is very alarming, and we have to fight against it". In other news, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) has issued a statement saying that "in the second half, we must continue to reinforce fine-tuning and pre-emptive adjustment in monetary policy and improve credit policy to support the development of the real economy." FTSE 100: M&S making gains on M&A rumoursMarks & Spencer was a high riser on the FTSE 100 after the Sunday Telegraph reported that the High Street giant is the subject of takeover talks. The paper said that bankers at a number of London institutions have assessed the possibility of providing debt finance for a speculative bid of £6bn. Coal and iron ore giant Evraz was in demand after UBS removed the stock from its least preferred list.Engineering group GKN gained on the back of car sales data [see below] and a bullish research note from Credit Suisse this morning. The broker raised its target price for shares and reiterated its 'outperform' rating, saying that the stock continues to offer an "undemanding" valuation compared with the sector.Airline group IAG was pressured lower after Credit Suisse downgraded its rating on the stock to 'neutral' and cut its target price from 176p to 160p. Meanwhile, SSE and Centrica were also down after Deutsche Bank cut its recommendations on the shares to 'hold'. Supermarket giant Tesco was making gains after launching mortgage services. Philip Clarke, Chief Executive of Tesco, described the launch of Tesco Bank mortgages as "a major milestone towards offering Tesco customers a full retail banking service." FTSE 250: Telecity provides a liftData centre operator TeleCity Group was leading the risers after saying demand for its services remains strong in all of its markets, as it made good on its promise to declare a maiden dividend. Insurance firm Catlin Group rose after jumping back into the black in the first half of 2012 as premiums rose and its London hub sprang back into life. UK economic data comes in mixedOutput has fallen among the UK's small and medium-sized manufacturers, and sentiment has deteriorated, according to figures from business lobby group the CBI. Of the 359 firms that responded to the latest quarterly SME Trends Survey, 28% said output volumes had fallen, while 23% of manufacturers reported output volumes increasing in the three months to July. The resulting balance of -5% is the first fall since October 2009, when at the height of the financial crisis it hit -14%. New UK car registrations rose for the fifth month in a row in July, posting the strongest figures of 2012 so far. New car registrations rose 9.3% in July to 143,884 units, with the total so far this year up 3.5% on the same period in 2011.Halifax has added to a number of recent reports that the UK housing market weakened in July. The lender reported that average prices fell 0.6% month-on-month in July, following on from increases of 0.8% in June and 0.4% in May.FTSE 100 - RisersEvraz (EVR) 247.90p +3.46%IMI (IMI) 861.00p +2.62%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 349.60p +2.49%GKN (GKN) 215.20p +2.18%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 220.20p +1.94%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 211.40p +1.93%Barclays (BARC) 174.60p +1.90%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 395.50p +1.88%Vedanta Resources (VED) 971.50p +1.78%ICAP (IAP) 334.00p +1.77%FTSE 100 - FallersJohnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,193.00p -4.15%Pennon Group (PNN) 756.50p -1.50%Centrica (CNA) 318.80p -1.45%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,931.00p -1.38%BAE Systems (BA.) 310.40p -1.37%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,718.00p -1.15%SSE (SSE) 1,316.00p -0.90%United Utilities Group (UU.) 680.50p -0.87%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 149.70p -0.86%Unilever (ULVR) 2,319.00p -0.64%FTSE 250 - RisersTelecity Group (TCY) 896.00p +6.86%Avocet Mining (AVM) 89.60p +5.79%Barr (A.G.) (BAG) 455.00p +5.32%RPS Group (RPS) 250.70p +4.63%COLT Group SA (COLT) 115.50p +4.34%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 38.52p +4.22%Catlin Group Ltd. (CGL) 449.30p +4.00%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 146.50p +3.97%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 274.30p +3.82%Berkeley Group Holdings (The) (BKG) 1,482.00p +3.64%FTSE 250 - FallersQinetiQ Group (QQ.) 167.10p -2.85%Anite (AIE) 123.30p -1.36%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,163.00p -1.02%Ted Baker (TED) 908.00p -0.87%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 87.35p -0.85%William Hill (WMH) 310.80p -0.80%Diploma (DPLM) 421.50p -0.75%Cobham (COB) 233.90p -0.55%Galliford Try (GFRD) 627.50p -0.55%BH Global Ltd. USD Shares (BHGU) 11.49 -0.52%BC