London midday: FTSE 100 pauses after rally

Shares are seeking direction following yesterday's big gains, with stocks moving in both directions on the back of updates.Despite a strong first start to the year, terrestrial broadcaster ITV has warned that it is facing tougher comparatives in the current quarter, meaning that the firm could underperform the market in the first half. Nevertheless, revenues for the three months to 31 March grew 11% to £500m, from £450m last year, "driven by positive television advertising market", the group said.It has been a year in waiting, but BP has finally received approval by regulators to complete the purchase of ten Brazilian exploration and production blocks from Devon Energy. The Brazilian National Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels Agency (ANP) has been deliberating the $7.2bn deal since last March, following delays due to the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.Banking giant HSBC has unveiled some details of its new strategic plan in which it will direct investment to fast growing markets while cutting back elsewhere. The group plans to focus on wealth management in 18 of the "most relevant" economies while limiting retail banking to those markets where it believes it can achieve profitable scale. Nevertheless, shares fell into the red in early trading.Online grocery firm Ocado has failed to deliver what the market was hoping for, revealing that sales growth in the second quarter has, as expected, been lower than the first as a result of capacity constraints and the higher incidence of holidays. The firm, which has a long-term delivery deal with John Lewis grocery arm Waitrose, said gross sales growth will be approximately 21% for the first half of the year, down from almost 25% growth in the first quarter.A record number of customer transactions helped Sainsbury's beat sales and profits forecasts, prompting the supermarket giant to hike its dividend by 6.3%. Meanwhile, sales grew by 7.1% from £21.42bn to £22.94bn, beating estimates of around £21.34bn, as a result of "market-beating like-for-like sales growth" (4.7%) and increased floor space, which contributed 2.4% to the rise. However, shares edged lower.Energy services firm Wood Group is in demand after saying that it expects full year results to be in line with expectations. "The long term fundamentals for oil & gas and gas fired power generation remain strong and we believe the refocused group is well positioned to deliver good longer term growth," the group said.Strong growth in Asia and the US helped the insurance giant Prudential shrug off a more sluggish performance in the UK to continue growing strongly in the first quarter of 2011. Total insurance sales were up by 10% from the same period a year ago to £888m. New business profit climbed by 17% to £498m. Rail and bus operator FirstGroup has decided not to take up an option to extend the First Great Western franchise that operates between London and the west. The decision, which sees First Great Western exiting the franchise in 2013, three years early, results in a £59.9m charge that appears in its full-year results to 31 March. Pre-tax profits declined to £127.2m from £175.3m over the same period the previous year, on revenues that rose to £6.43bn from £6.26bn. Investors have no appetite for shares in Garfunkel's and Frankie & Benny's owner The Restaurant Group, which said it is trading 'in line' after a "satisfactory" performance in the first 18 weeks of 2011, but has expressed its caution in regards to the full year as consumer spending remains restricted. "Trading conditions during 2011 look set to continue to be similarly challenging to those we experienced during 2010, with consumer sentiment remaining cautious and household inflation and disposable income still under pressure," said chairman Alan Jackson. Pace has recovered some of the heavy losses it sustained yesterday when the set-top box maker revealed that first quarter profitability was lower than it expected due to higher-than-expected input prices. While this has led RBS to make material forecast downgrades on the "clearly disappointing news", the broker keeps its 'buy' rating, saying that share price decline looks overdone. Housebuilder Bovis moves ahead after it said the market has remained stable with visitor numbers for the year to date remaining over 20% ahead of the prior year. However, the group noted that the housing market continues to operate well below historical activity levels and warned that without improved availability of high loan to value mortgage finance, it expects that market activity will continue to be constrained. FTSE 100 - RisersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 405.80p +2.50%Man Group (EMG) 254.20p +2.21%Kingfisher (KGF) 284.00p +2.01%Centrica (CNA) 314.80p +1.98%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,353.00p +1.81%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,910.00p +1.65%Barclays (BARC) 282.55p +1.65%Serco Group (SRP) 559.00p +1.64%Diageo (DGE) 1,293.00p +1.57%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 118.80p +1.54%FTSE 100 - FallersITV (ITV) 73.25p -3.49%Inmarsat (ISAT) 608.50p -1.85%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 301.70p -1.79%Whitbread (WTB) 1,635.00p -1.39%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,283.00p -1.38%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,451.00p -1.36%IMI (IMI) 1,099.00p -1.17%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,223.50p -1.13%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 872.50p -1.02%Unilever (ULVR) 1,980.00p -1.00%FTSE 250 - RisersCable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 53.95p +6.41%International Personal Finance (IPF) 371.60p +6.08%Pace (PIC) 98.00p +5.38%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 118.60p +3.94%Carpetright (CPR) 695.00p +3.81%Soco International (SIA) 377.40p +3.60%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 44.70p +3.26%Sports Direct International (SPD) 210.40p +2.99%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 919.00p +2.97%Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 451.00p +2.90%FTSE 250 - FallersOcado Group (OCDO) 215.20p -7.64%Restaurant Group (RTN) 309.90p -5.81%Provident Financial (PFG) 969.50p -4.29%Computacenter (CCC) 473.50p -3.31%CSR (CSR) 380.20p -2.86%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,701.00p -2.70%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 555.50p -2.37%Hiscox Ltd. (HSX) 412.05p -2.36%UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCM) 80.75p -2.12%Homeserve (HSV) 521.00p -2.07%---RG