London midday: FTSE 100 shrugs off deflation reading as ECB ready to step up easing

Despite confirmation of the UK's first deflation since the 1960s, London's blue chip shares passed midday on Tuesday in continuing positive territory.UK inflation fell 0.1% in the year to April, the first annual fall in the consumer prices index since the 1960s.Data from the Office for National Statistics said UK core inflation slowed to 0.8% in April, the lowest since 2001, and worse than the market had feared.Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said in televised interview on ITV that the public should "enjoy the low inflation while it lasts" over the coming months as the Bank of England will bring inflation up to the 2% target by the end of the year."We expect inflation to be very low over the next few months. But over the course of the year as we get towards the end inflation should start to pick up towards our 2% target."Chancellor George Osborne said the fall in the inflation rate was only temporary and that "we should not mistake this for damaging deflation".Over the channel, Eurozone data showed consumer prices stopped falling in April following four months of declines, this was backed up by confident statements from a number of ECB governing council members.Christian Noyer, who is also governor of the Bank of France, said recent indicators suggested the ECB's quantitative easing measures had had a positive effect on inflation expectations and said the central bank was ready to "go further if necessary" to deliver on its mandate of maintaining inflation close to but below 2%.This followed a speech in London on Monday night by fellow ECB board member Benoit Coeure, who said the ECB would front-load its asset purchase scheme over May and June, and that short-term interest rates going below zero were not a problem for monetary policy.London's FTSE 100 was back below the 7,000 mark after its early scramble, up 26 points of 0.38% at 6,995.97 at 12:11.This was despite shares in Vodafone, a heavy weighing in the index, falling despite reporting a return to growth in the fourth quarter. Final results showed organic service revenue up 0.1%, beating consensus forecasts for the final three months of the year. The telecoms giant's 7% decline in EBITDA, though expected, disappointed analysts who had hoped for more of a boost from the first year of its Project Spring programme.Property developer Land Securities was a big riser after it has raised its dividend by 3.7% to 31.85p following a surge in demand for commercial property which has boosted its adjusted net asset value 27.6% to 1,293p.Top of the 350 leaderboard was Big Yellow, as the self storage company reported rising annual profits thanks to higher occupancy and prices. Land Securities net asset value was 5% better than consensus, noted Societe Generale.Icap was also higher despite a 21% full year decline in profit and a warning that it expected headwinds to continue. But management said they had "materially re-engineered" the business, with a significant reshaping of the global broking division.DCC was another riser after the FTSE 250 company made a €464m bid for oil giant Shell's Butagaz liquefied petroleum gas business in France. Analysts at Berenberg said the deal would significantly boost earnings. Going the other way was Aveva as its adjusted pre-tax profits sank 21% to £62.1m as margins shrank to 29.8% from 33% a year ago. Shares in the company have been inflated recently due to intense bid speculation. The outlook appears tough, said analysts at RBC Capital Markets.BTG was a major faller as its annual profits declined as acquisitions and foreign exchange movements offset revenue growth. Market MoverstechMARK 3,251.14 +0.01%FTSE 100 6,995.06 +0.38%FTSE 250 18,147.18 +0.69%FTSE 100 - RisersCoca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,463.00p +3.10%Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,350.00p +2.97%Kingfisher (KGF) 363.80p +2.48%Intu Properties (INTU) 350.60p +2.10%Reed Elsevier (REL) 1,124.00p +2.09%Shire Plc (SHP) 5,485.00p +2.05%GKN (GKN) 364.50p +1.99%CRH (CRH) 1,852.00p +1.98%ITV (ITV) 270.10p +1.92%Experian (EXPN) 1,248.00p +1.88%FTSE 100 - FallersBHP Billiton (BLT) 1,420.00p -2.94%Vodafone Group (VOD) 228.00p -2.61%Glencore (GLEN) 290.95p -2.04%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,882.00p -1.47%Fresnillo (FRES) 783.00p -1.20%Anglo American (AAL) 1,067.00p -0.93%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,870.00p -0.77%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 615.20p -0.55%Antofagasta (ANTO) 789.00p -0.50%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,005.00p -0.49%FTSE 250 - RisersDCC (DCC) 4,875.00p +11.05%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 689.00p +5.11%Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 167.90p +2.88%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 390.40p +2.85%AL Noor Hospitals Group (ANH) 909.50p +2.42%Intermediate Capital Group (ICP) 563.00p +2.36%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 159.60p +2.24%Grafton Group Units (GFTU) 818.00p +2.19%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 254.20p +2.17%Indivior (INDV) 235.00p +2.17%FTSE 250 - FallersBTG (BTG) 732.00p -6.51%Aveva Group (AVV) 1,941.00p -2.95%Drax Group (DRX) 404.90p -2.81%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 294.50p -2.64%Acacia Mining (ACA) 302.20p -2.52%Cairn Energy (CNE) 174.90p -2.40%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 172.00p -2.33%Interserve (IRV) 608.50p -2.25%Premier Oil (PMO) 167.40p -2.11%Serco Group (SRP) 134.00p -1.90%FTSE TechMARK - RisersBATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 14.50p +1.75%Ricardo (RCDO) 890.00p +1.71%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 1,081.00p +1.50%Anite (AIE) 93.25p +1.36%Filtronic (FTC) 12.50p +1.01%KCOM Group (KCOM) 96.75p +0.78%IShares Euro Gov Bond 7-10YR UCITS ETF (IEGM) € 201.09 +0.52%Sepura (SEPU) 149.25p +0.51%SDL (SDL) 444.50p +0.45%E2V Technologies (E2V) 239.75p +0.42%FTSE TechMARK - FallersOxford Biomedica (OXB) 10.50p -4.55%Dialight (DIA) 742.50p -1.53%NCC Group (NCC) 216.25p -1.26%Torotrak (TRK) 7.90p -1.21%Vectura Group (VEC) 163.00p -0.31%Consort Medical (CSRT) 934.50p -0.16%