London midday: Stocks keep gains as London catches up

The top share index is outpacing its continental rivals this morning, though only as it missed out on yesterday's rally due to the Bank Holiday.Speaking of banks, RBS, Barclays and Lloyds are posting good gains. The first set of interim results from media group Perform since it floated in April of this year showed the sporting events film footage provider on a growth trajectory and have been given the thumbs up. Revenue in the first half of 2011 of £45.1m was almost half as much again as the £30.7m racked up in the first half of last year, with the group boasting strong growth across all of its business areas.Oil and gas group Afren saw profits fall in the half year to 30 June after shutting down its Ebok field in Nigeria for safety reasons. Pre-tax profits fell to £43.7m from £75.4m over the same period the previous year on revenues that were down to £161m from £214.8m. However, production has been ramped up and the shares are higher today.Margins are on the mend at house builder Bovis Homes, which saw profits more than double in the first half of 2011. Profit before tax surged to £8.6m in the first six months of the year from £3.5m the year before.Gold miner Randgold Resources is a rare faller today after saying its Loulo/Gounkoto complex in Mali suffered in the third quarter after abnormally heavy rainfall. The bad weather has meant that targets for the third quarter have been substantially lowered as a result.Among smaller companies, shares in oil explorer Petro Matad took a sharp dive after it reported disappointing testing results from its operations in eastern Mongolia. The test on its DT-1 well at the Davsan Tolgoi project was judged to be a failure. FTSE 100 - RisersRoyal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 23.62p +7.95%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 31.63p +6.44%Barclays (BARC) 164.70p +6.26%Aviva (AV.) 330.00p +5.91%Anglo American (AAL) 2,473.00p +5.89%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,822.00p +5.44%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 103.50p +5.40%Prudential (PRU) 603.50p +5.32%Lonmin (LMI) 1,236.00p +5.19%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,290.00p +5.13%FTSE 100 - FallersTesco (TSCO) 361.40p -1.15%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 6,300.00p -0.63%GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) 1,282.00p -0.54%Vodafone Group (VOD) 161.05p -0.53%Unilever (ULVR) 2,014.00p 0.00%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 292.20p +0.07%Autonomy Corporation (AU.) 2,516.00p +0.28%Shire Plc (SHP) 1,928.00p +0.36%Experian (EXPN) 671.00p +0.37%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,014.00p +0.45%FTSE 250 - RisersPerform Group (PER) 185.00p +9.47%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 46.21p +7.94%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 77.60p +6.52%International Personal Finance (IPF) 250.00p +6.47%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 108.80p +6.04%Lancashire Holdings (LRE) 658.00p +5.62%Soco International (SIA) 324.30p +5.39%St James's Place (STJ) 333.50p +5.07%Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 330.80p +5.02%Heritage Oil (HOIL) 217.40p +5.02%FTSE 250 - FallersExillon Energy (EXI) 259.10p -3.89%F&C Asset Management (FCAM) 65.85p -2.73%Laird (LRD) 152.80p -1.93%Kofax (KFX) 324.40p -1.76%Rank Group (RNK) 127.80p -1.69%Brewin Dolphin Holdings (BRW) 129.20p -1.52%Domino Printing Sciences (DNO) 541.50p -1.46%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 258.10p -1.45%Debenhams (DEB) 53.80p -1.28%Synergy Health (SYR) 887.50p -1.17%