London midday: Stocks give up weak start

London's leading share index is posting strong gains now, in line with mainland European bourses following the short selling ban.France, Italy, Spain and Belgium have banned short-selling of financial stocks in an attempt to prevent further slides in banking stocks' share prices.Barclays and other British banks are in demand today, rising in line with European peers.In company news today, oil firm EnQuest, said after profits surged 145% on sales that doubled in the first half. The group said it remains on target to achieve its full-year production forecasts.International private equity investor and fund management business SVG Capital rose after its net asset value shot up 24.7% to 393.3p in the first half of 2011.Sports retailers Sport Direct International and JJB Sports were in demand after the Office of Fair Trading announced on Thursday that it has "provisionally decided to close its investigation [...] into alleged anti-competitive conduct in the sports goods retail sector." Newspaper publisher Trinity Mirror roars ahead after saying that 'changes to the national Sunday newspaper market' prompted 'considerable circulation volume growth' for its Sunday titles.FTSE 100 - RisersInmarsat (ISAT) 425.50p +5.87%Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,006.00p +5.40%Barclays (BARC) 187.20p +5.26%Aggreko (AGK) 1,849.00p +4.58%Essar Energy (ESSR) 294.70p +4.17%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 26.28p +4.00%GKN (GKN) 193.50p +3.70%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,856.00p +3.69%Kingfisher (KGF) 231.10p +3.63%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,405.00p +3.61%FTSE 100 - FallersARM Holdings (ARM) 516.00p -0.77%Severn Trent (SVT) 1,429.88p -0.15%Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 278.80p -0.07%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 297.00p +0.03%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 538.10p +0.43%3i Group (III) 222.30p +0.45%InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,032.00p +0.49%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 186.00p +0.54%Compass Group (CPG) 540.00p +0.56%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,220.00p +0.57%FTSE 250 - RisersSpirit Pub Company (SPRT) 44.01p +10.03%AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 248.00p +8.16%Premier Foods (PFD) 14.48p +6.86%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 373.00p +6.21%Computacenter (CCC) 413.30p +5.87%Rightmove (RMV) 1,120.00p +5.86%Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) 33.09p +5.55%Kier Group (KIE) 1,203.00p +5.53%Henderson Group (HGG) 141.40p +5.44%Shanks Group (SKS) 119.50p +5.38%FTSE 250 - FallersJPMorgan Indian Inv Trust (JII) 387.00p -2.03%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 530.00p -1.85%ITE Group (ITE) 183.60p -1.50%SThree (STHR) 271.70p -1.45%JPMorgan Russian Securities (JRS) 521.50p -1.42%Unite Group (UTG) 165.60p -1.08%Grainger (GRI) 99.15p -1.05%Genesis Emerging Markets Fund Ltd. (GSS) 463.60p -0.75%British Empire Securities & General Trust (BTEM) 480.30p -0.60%Atkins (WS) (ATK) 621.50p -0.48%