London midday: Shares move cautiously higher

The top share index is moderately higher today following big gains yesterday. Traders will be looking ahead to US job figures due at 1.30pm London time.The US non-farm payroll numbers at lunchtime will get the day traders excited, but may also show that the US economy's recovery is at last starting to generate a decent number of new jobs.Outsourcing firm Capita Group is a top riser. It has acquired Talis Information, a provider of management software and managed services to the academic sector. Fellow outsourcing group Serco is also wanted.Advertising giant WPP is lower even though it made over £1bn for the first time ever in 2010, but violence in the Middle East, which accounts for 1.7% of revenue, is a worry. Headline profit before tax increased 27.3% to £1.03bn.Customers have flocked to online grocery specialist Ocado with gross sales up by nearly a quarter over the past three months. The firm, which has a long-term delivery deal with John Lewis grocery arm Waitrose, saw sales rise to £146.2m from £117.2m in the 12 weeks to 20 February.International recruitment firm SThree has joined the list of job agencies reporting a continuing general uplift in the staffing market, though the shares are down today. Group gross profit, at constant exchange rates was up 19% to around £42m in the three months to 27 February from £35.8m a year earlier.Low cost airline easyJet saw a steep rise in the number of passengers carried in February from a year ago, though the gain was not as sharp as January's. The number of passengers carried on the airline's familiar white and orange planes rose 13.1% to 3.83m in February from 3.39m in February 2010.The sharp rise in the share price of oil explorer and producer Range Resources is as much of a mystery to the company's board as it is to the watchdogs down at the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Trading at beer pump specialist Brulines has gone flat recently and the second half will come in short of previous expectations.FTSE 100 - RisersSerco Group (SRP) 616.50p +4.23%Standard Life (SL.) 238.60p +3.38%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,464.00p +3.10%Aviva (AV.) 469.20p +2.60%Pearson (PSON) 1,078.00p +2.28%G4S (GFS) 269.10p +2.16%Capita Group (CPI) 782.50p +2.15%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,808.00p +2.15%Kingfisher (KGF) 248.20p +1.89%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,356.00p +1.88%FTSE 100 - FallersWPP (WPP) 813.00p -2.81%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,580.00p -2.11%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 1,944.00p -1.42%United Utilities Group (UU.) 592.00p -1.25%British American Tobacco (BATS) 2,478.50p -0.92%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 658.80p -0.59%ARM Holdings (ARM) 591.50p -0.59%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 232.30p -0.56%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,937.00p -0.56%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 1,650.00p -0.42%FTSE 250 - RisersBodycote (BOY) 329.70p +6.63%Forth Ports (FPT) 1,532.00p +5.15%Debenhams (DEB) 62.50p +4.34%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 179.00p +4.13%Cobham (COB) 233.70p +4.05%Carpetright (CPR) 754.50p +3.93%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 923.50p +3.76%Home Retail Group (HOME) 215.30p +3.46%St James's Place (STJ) 319.30p +3.33%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 274.00p +3.32%FTSE 250 - FallersSThree (STHR) 419.60p -2.37%Exillon Energy (EXI) 436.00p -2.00%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 145.70p -1.62%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 41.80p -1.62%COLT Group SA (COLT) 151.50p -1.30%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,821.00p -1.29%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 632.00p -1.25%International Personal Finance (IPF) 319.60p -0.99%Hikma Pharmaceuticals (HIK) 759.50p -0.98%Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd. (GSS) 505.00p -0.98%