London midday: Modest gains ahead of Osborne speech

With US stock futures pointing to a positive start on Wall Street, London's FTSE 100 index reversed its earlier losses to trade modestly in the blue by midday on Tuesday. All eyes have turned to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, ALL EYES ON GEORGEGeorge Osborne is to make his Autumn statement at around 12:30 and one of the key elements will be the gross domestic product (GDP) projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Altium Securities describes the statement as "the big set piece event in the UK" and notes that "the weekend press made it clear just how much the Chancellor needs to sweeten an inevitably bitter pill: the apparent official launch of credit easing is doubtless designed to divert the attention from what will be some swingeing cuts to the OBR's GDP projections." Barclays Capital analyst Paul Robinson said, "Overall, this is likely to be a downbeat statement, highlighting the problems facing the UK economy. The growth and deficit forecasts will be closely watched, and revisions are likely to be large. But whole-scale changes in policy are highly unlikely."Meanwhile, stock markets in Europe nudged higher as investors anticipated good news from a meeting of European finance ministers in Brussels. The expectation around the summit in Brussels is that finance ministers will agree on the mechanism for the European Financial Stability Fund, the Eurozone's current bail-out fund, to leverage its resources, thereby increasing its firepower. RANDGOLD RECOVERS, BANKS FALL Randgold Resources was the best performer, rising nearly 5%, clawing its way back after yesterday's fall. On Monday, the firm cut its production forecast for the year after running into a number of difficulties at its Tongon mine in Côte d'Ivoire. The company now expects group production for the year to drop from between 740,000 and 760,000 ounces to between 690,000 to 700,000 ounces. However, the banks were among the worst performers, with Lloyds, Standard Chartered and HSBC registering moderate losses. Investors are likely to be cautious ahead of the Chancellor's speech and the meeting of European finance ministers. On the FTSE 250, oil exploration firm Enquest surged after it upped production guidance after deciding to develop two new fields. Enquest said it would begin an $850m development of its Alma and Galia fields, subject to anticipated regulatory approvals. Exhibitions and conferences firm ITE Group jumped after full-year adjusted profit before tax rose to £51.4m from £36.6m the year before.Spread betting firm IG Group saw a high level of client activity in the second quarter of its financial year, as a result of which it currently expects that it will achieve revenues in excess of £193.0m for the first half, compared to £156.7m in the corresponding period for the prior year. Shares rose over 8%.ECONOMIC NEWS Mortgage lending in October came in ahead of expectations as banks approved almost 53,000 new home loans, well above the six month average. Lenders approved 52,743 loans for house purchase in October, higher than the previous six-month average of 49,097, according to the Bank of England. This was ahead of a market consensus for 51,800 loans. The rate of growth in the United Kingdom's money supply, as measured by the M4 series, and excluding so-called 'intermediate other financial corporations' (OFCs), was 0.5% on month for October, according to the latest data out this morning from the Bank of England. The above is considered to be the monetary authority's preferred measure for money supply. Despite the deep gloom pervading capital markets worldwide, house prices in the United Kingdom continue to defy the expectations of those who had expected them to fall, some of the latest data seems to show. UK house prices rose 0.4% on month (1.6% on year) in November, to £165,798, according to the latest data released this morning by Nationwide. In October they rose at a 0.4% on month (0.8% on year) pace. BCFTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,530.00p +4.65%Man Group (EMG) 137.10p +3.63%GKN (GKN) 182.10p +2.82%G4S (GFS) 245.40p +2.59%IMI (IMI) 766.00p +2.41%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,224.00p +2.26%Aggreko (AGK) 1,814.00p +2.14%Carnival (CCL) 2,110.00p +2.13%Wolseley (WOS) 1,840.00p +2.11%Compass Group (CPG) 570.00p +1.79%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 23.37p -1.29%Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 236.50p -1.29%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,327.00p -0.97%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 740.50p -0.67%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 143.90p -0.48%Glencore International (GLEN) 382.60p -0.47%National Grid (NG.) 636.50p -0.39%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 563.00p -0.35%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 487.20p -0.32%Old Mutual (OML) 109.20p -0.27%FTSE 250 - RisersEnQuest (ENQ) 102.40p +12.53%ITE Group (ITE) 201.90p +9.31%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 469.90p +8.32%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 675.00p +6.97%Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 998.00p +5.50%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 109.50p +5.29%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 211.90p +5.16%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 456.50p +4.97%Balfour Beatty (BBY) 241.10p +4.87%Redrow (RDW) 114.00p +4.78%FTSE 250 - FallersThomas Cook Group (TCG) 21.08p -2.99%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 284.30p -2.47%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 33.50p -1.85%RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 1,285.00p -1.53%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 35.79p -1.43%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 134.80p -1.17%Ashtead Group (AHT) 171.60p -1.10%Synergy Health (SYR) 872.00p -1.08%Moneysupermarket.com Group (MONY) 103.00p -1.06%Dignity (DTY) 796.00p -1.00%