London midday: Markets pause ahead of central-bank decisions

Corporate earnings in London were taken well by the market on Tuesday morning with Lloyds, BP and Imperial Tobacco all on the rise, but the FTSE 100 was broadly flat by lunchtime as traders turned cautious ahead of central-bank decisions later this week.London's benchmark index has now risen by around 3.0% since the start of last week after a raft of disappointing indicators from the Eurozone sparked hopes that the European Central Bank (ECB) will move to ease monetary policy when it meets on Thursday. The consensus is expecting at least a 25 basis-point reduction in the ECB's key lending rate from the current record-low level of 0.75% Eurozone jobless figures this morning showed that the region's unemployment rate rose from 12% to 12.1% in March, though that was in line with forecasts. With inflation data (also released this morning) showing that consumer price rises slowed down sharply in April, analysts believe that this has thrown more weight behind the argument for more monetary easing from the ECB this week."If an ECB rate cut on Thursday didn't look nailed on before, it certainly does now, after official data in the Eurozone showed inflation fell to 1.2% in April," said Market Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari. "Inflation was expected to fall from 1.7% to 1.6% in April, still well within the ECBs target of 2.0% or less. Even this would have tilted the odds in the favour of a rate cut, but the fact that is came in so far below expectations gives the ECB plenty of room to manoeuvre."Meanwhile, the US Federal Reserve is convening today for a two-day meeting and is widely expected to leave its current stimulus measures unchanged given last week's disappointing growth figures. It was revealed on Friday that first-quarter gross domestic product in the States expanded by just 2.5%, short of the 3.0% forecast. FTSE 100: Lloyds, BP and Imperial Tobacco making gainsMarkets gave a positive reaction to first-quarter results from banking giant Lloyds this morning with the stock rising sharply after profits came in slightly ahead of consensus estimates and the company reduced its full-year cost guidance. Sector peer RBS was also in demand.Oil major BP was a high riser after replacement cost profits jumped from $4.8bn to $16.6bn in the first quarter, helped by proceeds from the disposal of its interest in the TNK-BP joint venture. Tobacco giant Imperial was in demand despite seeing revenues and profits slump in the first half due to weakness in Europe, excise-driven market dynamics in Russia and a new pricing strategy in the US. Costa owner Whitbread however was lower despite recording a double-digit increase in annual revenue, profit and the dividend in the face of adverse weather conditions. Asset manager Aberdeen was performing well, extending gains after yesterday reporting a 13% increase in assets under management in the first half. The stock was given an extra lift this morning after UBS, JPMorgan Cazenove, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley all raised their target prices. FTSE 250: Invensys boosted by Societe; Lonmin dropsInvensys was given a lift by Societe Generale which upgraded the firm from 'hold' to 'buy', saying that the engineering and software company has an improved investment profile with substantial margin and M&A upside.Platinum miner Lonmin was a heavy faller after reporting saying that it has had to shut down one of its furnaces due to an "incident" which will take 30-40 days to repair.FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 309.30p +5.20%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 55.79p +4.28%BP (BP.) 473.25p +3.61%Croda International (CRDA) 2,490.00p +1.67%Evraz (EVR) 160.20p +1.14%Shire Plc (SHP) 2,035.00p +0.89%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 290.60p +0.76%Serco Group (SRP) 619.00p +0.73%Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,951.00p +0.72%ARM Holdings (ARM) 986.00p +0.71%FTSE 100 - FallersPolymetal International (POLY) 710.00p -3.99%Wood Group (John) (WG.) 775.00p -2.76%Centrica (CNA) 369.20p -2.74%Tullow Oil (TLW) 993.50p -2.69%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 267.60p -2.62%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,150.00p -2.37%easyJet (EZJ) 1,111.00p -2.11%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 734.50p -2.07%Anglo American (AAL) 1,576.00p -2.05%Whitbread (WTB) 2,561.00p -1.92%FTSE 250 - RisersInvensys (ISYS) 381.10p +4.47%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 159.10p +3.38%Carpetright (CPR) 648.57p +2.78%Afren (AFR) 130.40p +2.60%Spirax-Sarco Engineering (SPX) 2,612.00p +2.39%Dialight (DIA) 1,298.00p +1.96%Capital & Counties Properties (CAPC) 310.40p +1.87%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 461.90p +1.67%Bodycote (BOY) 521.00p +1.66%EnQuest (ENQ) 128.60p +1.58%FTSE 250 - FallersImagination Technologies Group (IMG) 422.70p -5.20%Lonmin (LMI) 271.00p -5.01%NMC Health (NMC) 321.00p -4.97%Rentokil Initial (RTO) 92.30p -3.85%FirstGroup (FGP) 211.70p -3.82%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 253.70p -3.54%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 216.20p -3.01%Genus (GNS) 1,357.00p -2.93%Petropavlovsk (POG) 149.50p -2.92%Mitie Group (MTO) 272.60p -2.68%BC