London midday: Oil fired Footsie

Oil is fuelling the Footsie's rise today, with support from back-in-favour banks. Cairn Energy has secured a drill ship to get an early start on its exploration activities in Greenland. The oil company said drilling in Greenland will start a year ahead of schedule after it came to a deal with Hess Corporation to use the Stena Forth drill ship for a six month period.Royal Dutch Shell is wanted on press reports it is to auction £3bn of assets in Nigeria. The Times says two of China's state-run oil companies are in the running.Press reports are also driving the share price of Tullow Oil which, according to the Financial Times, is poised to stymie Heritage Oil's proposed £930m sale of assets to Italian oil giant ENI. Tullow, which jointly owns the assets with Tullow, has the option to block the sale.Banks have rallied a little after heavy falls last week on the recommendations by the Basel Committee. Analysts suggest it could mean European banks having to raise up to €400bn in extra capital. Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland each get a lift from Deutsche Bank, which has reiterated its buy recommendations on all three.London Stock Exchange (LSE) is to acquire Turquoise, the trading platform that was set up by banks in 2008 to challenge LSE's dominance. LSE said it will merge Turquoise with its trading facility Baikal Global to create a pan-European trading venture.Mobile phone giant Vodafone has confirmed it will begin selling Apple's iPhone in the UK on 14 January.Embattled bus and train group National Express said full year profits are likely to be in line with previously indicated levels. The group's underlying revenue trends have stabilised in the fourth quarter.Sportswear retailer Sports Direct is in trouble according to the Times, which says it has been reported to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for allegedly breaking City rules in its attempt to buy Blacks Leisure. Satellite operator Avanti Communications is to raise £86m in new equity and has agreed £194m of new borrowings to fund the launch of its second wireless broadband satellite, HYLAS 2.Oil services specialist Hunting results this year will be 'towards the high end of market expectations' after good results from aviation offset weak exploration and shipping activity.The share price of Prosperity Minerals shot up after the iron ore trader said the proposed sale of its Chinese cement business is to go ahead. Prosperity expects its cash position will be boosted by HK$3,800m (around £300m) as a result of the sale of Upper Value Investments, which will also leave it debt free.Shares in Lombard Risk Management soared after the trading software company won a contract to supply the Dutch bank ABN Amro with its risk management software COLLINE.Germ killing technology company Byotrol's share price received a boost after it said that it had its US patent application accepted. Byotrol, which applied for the patent in 2002, said the patent runs until 2022.Things are looking up for recruitment and business process outsourcing group Network Group Holdings, which said the second half of its trading year had seen an improvement in profitability.FTSE 100 - RisersCairn Energy (CNE) 3,195.00p +4.89%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 696.50p +2.43%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,199.00p +2.30%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,526.50p +2.14%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,754.00p +2.04%Barclays (BARC) 269.55p +2.01%FTSE 100 - FallersAggreko (AGK) 885.50p -1.61%Schroders (SDR) 1,242.00p -1.11%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 76.40p -0.91%Diageo (DGE) 1,053.00p -0.47%National Grid (NG.) 642.50p -0.46%Petrofac Ltd (PFC) 972.50p -0.26%