London midday: Stocks back in the red as Lloyds gives up gains

Stocks are back in the red now after giving up this morning's partial recovery.Investors have turned sour on Lloyds Banking's results having earlier applauded them. The headline items are a £3.2bn provision for potential claims relating to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, and underlying profit before tax (excluding liability management and enhanced capital notes (ECN) effects totalling £851m) of £1,340m, up 36% from £988m in the first half of 2010.Strong growth in emerging markets helped Anglo-Dutch food and household goods giant Unilever, which is keeping its gains, post higher sales and profits in the first half, though margins fell back as price rises failed to wholly offset the impact of higher input costs. The maker of Dove soap, Magnum ice creams and a host of other brands, posted turnover of €22.79bn for the first half, up 4.1% from the same period a year ago, while net profit climbed by 9% to €2.4bn. Gold miner Randgold Resources is shining after its second quarter gold production more than tripled, boosted by contributions from its new Tongon and Gounkoto mines and soaring gold prices. Randgold said the increased production of 184,711 ounces and the sale of gold held back at Tongon in the previous quarter pushed profits up 253% to $128.4m, from a year earlier. In the FTSE 250, US payment services provider Fidelity National Information Services has pulled out of offer talks with application software provider Misys, a heavy faller today.Inmarsat is also spinning back to earth. The satellite operator Inmarsat reported higher second-quarter profits and revealed plans to buyback $250m of its shares, but investors were inconsolable regarding the dismal outlook for its maritime sector, its core business, sending its shares plunging 18%. Low cost airline easyJet is descending even after it said its passenger numbers for July continued to grow, with total numbers rising 8% on the year before. The company said 5,427,112 people flew in July, up from 5,021,838 a year before. It said it had filled 91.7% of available seats, up slightly from 90.9% the previous year. Investors are raising a glass to pub group Enterprise Inns, which is making a slow recovery with its average income per pub up just 1% from a year earlier in the 18 weeks since the beginning of April. The company, which struggled to repay its debt during the recession, benefited from two bank holidays and good weather but blamed the small year-on-year improvement on a difficult like-for-like comparative period which included the FIFA World Cup.Pre-tax profit for the communications technology company Spirent Communications, also higher today, rose 14% to $55.8m (£34.2m) for the six months ended 3 July 2011. The company also boasted growth across all lines of business with revenue up 15% to $260.4m (£159m) and order intake up 10% with a book to bill ratio of 99. Shares in Nichols were fizzing after the maker Vimto and other soft drinks predicted full year profits would be "significantly ahead" of the previous year after a strong first half. Pre-tax profits in the six months to 30 June rose to £7.2m from £6m on revenues that climbed to £50.5m from £44.2m. FTSE 100 - RisersUnilever (ULVR) 2,013.00p +5.67%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,815.00p +4.68%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,118.00p +1.83%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,554.00p +1.37%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,338.00p +1.33%Vodafone Group (VOD) 172.75p +1.32%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,307.00p +1.32%Diageo (DGE) 1,227.00p +0.99%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 292.90p +0.97%United Utilities Group (UU.) 602.50p +0.75%FTSE 100 - FallersInmarsat (ISAT) 380.90p -22.09%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 36.12p -7.30%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,531.00p -6.65%Barclays (BARC) 200.50p -5.65%Xstrata (XTA) 1,121.50p -5.44%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 30.48p -5.43%IMI (IMI) 892.50p -5.31%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,140.00p -4.92%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,247.00p -4.88%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,920.00p -4.76%FTSE 250 - RisersSpirent Communications (SPT) 129.80p +3.10%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 66.75p +2.69%Telecom Plus (TEP) 647.50p +2.53%Hiscox Ltd. (HSX) 368.80p +2.44%Kofax (KFX) 316.50p +2.10%Fidessa Group (FDSA) 1,725.00p +2.01%Greggs (GRG) 515.00p +1.68%Carpetright (CPR) 586.50p +1.65%RIT Capital Partners (RCP) 1,250.00p +1.63%JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 227.10p +1.61%FTSE 250 - FallersMisys (MSY) 296.00p -17.34%Afren (AFR) 121.00p -9.09%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 48.40p -8.16%Cobham (COB) 169.60p -6.56%easyJet (EZJ) 316.20p -6.53%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 346.70p -6.42%Lamprell (LAM) 326.70p -6.31%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 254.20p -5.89%SThree (STHR) 305.40p -5.60%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 484.20p -5.52%