London midday: Lloyds makes gains as stocks shrug off PMI data

- UK, China PMIs disappoint- Lloyds provides a lift, Man Group and BP drop after updates- European, Asian markets closed; US openWith most European and Asian markets closed today for May Day, the Footsie was trading only slightly higher by Tuesday lunchtime as some worse-than-expected manufacturing data from the UK and China limited gains. Across the pond, benchmarks are still open today, with stock futures pointing to a broadly flat start on Wall Street ahead of the US's own manufacturing report.UK manufacturing growth faltered in April as exports were hit by weaker demand from across the globe. Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) registered 50.5 in April compared to 51.9 in March. Any number over 50 on the index denotes growth with today's figures showing output rising at slowest rate of the year so far. Consensus forecasts were for an expansion of 51.6. However, it was the fifth month in a row that the manufacturing sector reported expansion. "Although still in positive territory, manufacturers reported a slowdown in activity, characteristic of continued problems and poorer consumer confidence across the Eurozone," said David Noble, Chief Executive at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply. Meanwhile, activity in China's manufacturing sector ticked up in the month of April, according to the latest data out from the country's statistics bureau and logistics federation. The national manufacturing sector PMI rose to 53.3 points from the previous month's level of 53.1. However, while that does mark the highest reading in a year it has come in below the 53.6 point mark expected by the consensus. FTSE 100: Lloyds on the rise, but Man & BP provide a drag Lloyds was the best performer of the day after saying that pre-tax profits in the first quarter came in at £288m compared to a massive loss of £3.47bn in the first three months of last year. Nevertheless, Lloyds said it had seen an increase in the volume of complaints being received following the PPI mis-selling scandal. ??"If [CEO] Antonio still needs cheering up after the 6% share price rebound of the past eight days then the underlying trends visible in today's numbers could be just the tonic," said analysts at Investec. Sector peer Barclays was making moderate gains, while RBS fell into the red.??Cigarette producer Imperial Tobacco rose after beating market expectations both in terms of operating profits and earnings per share in its first half as the its biggest brand, Gauloises Blondes, produced significant growth. Man Group, the hedge fund manager which has seen its share price plummet over the last two months, continued to fall despite reporting a slight increase in funds under management (FuM) in the first quarter. "After a strong start to the year, markets came back under pressure in March and drove greater dispersion in investment performance across our industry," said Chief Executive Peter Clarke. Peel Hunt downgraded the stock today from buy to hold.??Integrated oil major BP also fell after underlying replacement cost profit was down in the first quarter, with the downstream business primarily responsible for the fall-off. ??Morgan Stanley seems responsible for some movements in the utilities sector today, giving United Utilities a lift after an upgrade (from equal weight to overweight) while pressuring Severn Trent lower with a downgrade (from overweight to equal weight).?FTSE 250: Chemring and Cape perform stronglyPyrotechnics and military counter-measures specialist Chemring started Tuesday with a bang after announcing two new orders, one big and one small. Its Chemring Countermeasures subsidiary has been awarded a five-year agreement with the UK Ministry of Defence, worth an initial £21m, while in the US, its Non-Intrusive Inspection Technology (NITEK) division has been awarded a contract for the ground penetrating radar, Husky mounted detection system. The contract ceiling is $579m with an initial order of $161m. ??Shares in energy and mineral extraction industries services provider Cape advanced after the firm announced that underlying revenues increased by one-tenth in the first quarter. ??Oil and gas engineering firm Lamprell also rose after saying it had secured a $227m contract from an unnamed drilling contractor to build one of its popular jackup rigs. FTSE 100 - RisersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 32.40p +4.48%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,536.00p +2.92%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 331.30p +1.94%Bunzl (BNZL) 1,040.00p +1.66%Aviva (AV.) 313.00p +1.59%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 836.50p +1.58%United Utilities Group (UU.) 627.50p +1.46%Wolseley (WOS) 2,377.00p +1.45%Diageo (DGE) 1,573.50p +1.45%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 24.60p +1.36%FTSE 100 - FallersMan Group (EMG) 97.75p -5.56%BP (BP.) 433.05p -2.69%Kingfisher (KGF) 283.90p -2.27%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,315.00p -2.03%IMI (IMI) 977.00p -1.26%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,671.00p -1.12%Next (NXT) 2,899.00p -1.02%BG Group (BG.) 1,436.50p -0.97%Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) 354.50p -0.70%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,524.00p -0.65%FTSE 250 - RisersChemring Group (CHG) 386.50p +18.38%Cape (CIU) 414.90p +9.94%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 245.30p +7.02%Lamprell (LAM) 360.60p +3.62%Betfair Group (BET) 808.50p +2.34%Carillion (CLLN) 298.40p +2.30%Bumi (BUMI) 529.50p +2.12%Restaurant Group (RTN) 286.30p +1.92%Ashtead Group (AHT) 253.20p +1.89%National Express Group (NEX) 220.80p +1.89%FTSE 250 - FallersHome Retail Group (HOME) 101.10p -5.16%Supergroup (SGP) 333.30p -4.17%CSR (CSR) 222.40p -3.60%Kesa Electricals (KESA) 52.70p -3.30%Petropavlovsk (POG) 466.50p -2.16%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,116.00p -2.11%Avocet Mining (AVM) 169.00p -2.09%Galliford Try (GFRD) 640.50p -1.91%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 119.70p -1.89%Ocado Group (OCDO) 127.40p -1.85%BC