London midday: Stocks rise as BoE holds fire, markets eye ECB

The FTSE 100 issued decent gains on Thursday morning, taking advantage of expected low volumes on the back of the Independence Day holiday in the States, with all eyes on central banks in the UK and Europe in the absence of any major economic data today.As expected, the Bank of England (BoE) stood pat, keeping its Bank Rate at 0.5% and maintaining the asset purchase programme at £375bn, at the first meeting led by new central-bank governor Mark Carney.In an unusually long statement alongside the decision, the BoE said that there have been "further signs that a recovery is in train" since the May Inflation Report, "although it remains weak by historical standards and a degree of slack is expected to persist for some time". The European Central Bank (ECB) is also due to release its announcement in the coming hours, but is predicted to follow suit with no change to policy.Speaking ahead of the press conference with ECB chief Mario Draghi later this afternoon, Matt Basi, Head of UK Sales Trading at CMC Markets, said: "A soothingly dovish statement is to be expected given the turmoils of Portugal and their rocketing yields over the past week, as the Italian seeks to reassure markets that the single currency isn't about to descend once more into chaos."Traders are also likely be on edge ahead of the all-important US jobs report scheduled for Friday afternoon, an event that it likely to factor into the Federal Reserve's decision on whether or not to begin 'tapering' stimulus. Meanwhile, crude prices remained elevated this morning, with West Texas Intermediate trading near a 14-month high, on concerns over supply from the Middle East after the removal of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi by the military. Unrest across the country has prompted fears that the flows along the Suez Canal and Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline could be affected. FTSE 100: Banks providing supportRBS was making gains this morning after it was reported that rivals - including BNP Paribas, Commerzbank and Societe Generale - were considering bids for its retail products and equity derivatives business. The company was also in the focus on rumours that it has begun to shortlist candidates to replace CEO Stephen Hester.The stock was also given a boost by comments from Nomura which said that an improving housing market in the UK should rub off on domestic banks. The broker raised its rating for Lloyds from 'reduce' to 'neutral' as part of the sector review. Banking peers Barclays, Standard Chartered and HSBC were also higher this morning.Engineering and auto components group GKN was a high riser again today, extending gains after US vehicle sales data for June came in much better than expected. Figures from the UK this morning should a 13.4% year-on-year jump in new car registrations, providing a lift to the wider auto sector.Budget airline easyJet advanced after reporting a 1.9% increase in passenger numbers in June. Investors were shrugging off the news that the airline cancelled 585 flights during the month (compared to 22 flights a year ago), due to the French Air Traffic Control strike. Wood Group was also performing well after securing its sixth major North Sea contract extension this year. It has won a three-year contract from Nexen Petroleum UK to deliver operations, maintenance and technical support services to the Scott and Buzzard platforms.FTSE 250: Housebuilders jump early onBritish housebuilder Redrow surged after saying that its full-year profit will be above the top end range of market expectations as revenue rose 26% to £604.8m. The company said results for the year to June 30th were driven by a 15% increase in the number of homes legally completed to 282. Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey also rose after trading at the upper end of company expectations during the first half of its financial year, following improvements across most of its markets in the UK. Sector peers Bellway and Barratt Developments also advanced this morning. Galliford Try edged higher also after saying that it has delivered record profits this year.However, it was Centamin that was the standout performer on the second-tier index this morning after shares in the Egyptian miner were lifted by the overnight developments in Egypt. Analysts at Investec said this morning: "Providing protests and disruptions do not result in fuel or explosives issues for [Centamin's Sukari] mine, CEY could continue as normal throughout this uncertainty."FTSE 100 - RisersGKN (GKN) 315.70p +2.57%easyJet (EZJ) 1,353.00p +2.50%Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 1,166.00p +2.46%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 276.50p +2.41%Tate & Lyle (TATE) 837.00p +2.39%Rio Tinto (RIO) 2,710.50p +2.32%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 4,278.00p +2.25%Persimmon (PSN) 1,240.00p +2.23%Old Mutual (OML) 185.00p +2.21%SABMiller (SAB) 3,182.00p +2.09%FTSE 100 - FallersSchroders (SDR) 2,191.00p -2.84%Whitbread (WTB) 3,085.00p -1.12%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 807.50p -0.80%Reckitt Benckiser Group (RB.) 4,673.00p -0.70%G4S (GFS) 224.90p -0.66%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,056.00p -0.47%IMI (IMI) 1,289.00p -0.46%Hammerson (HMSO) 501.00p -0.20%Amec (AMEC) 1,000.00p -0.20%TUI Travel (TT.) 360.00p -0.06%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 36.84p +18.27%Redrow (RDW) 234.40p +5.59%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 101.80p +5.00%Lonmin (LMI) 268.00p +3.08%888 Holdings (888) 159.70p +3.03%Regus (RGU) 173.70p +2.84%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 139.60p +2.72%Hiscox Ltd (HSX) 589.00p +2.52%Bellway (BWY) 1,339.00p +2.45%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 325.60p +2.39%FTSE 250 - FallersAlent (ALNT) 344.80p -2.46%United Drug (UDG) 322.20p -2.36%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 122.90p -1.76%Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 630.50p -1.71%Evraz (EVR) 100.90p -1.56%Hays (HAS) 88.45p -1.28%Britvic (BVIC) 498.80p -1.23%Smith (DS) (SMDS) 242.00p -1.22%Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 289.70p -1.19%Man Group (EMG) 82.35p -1.14%