London midday: Stocks up on US hopes

Shares in London were up as investors began to believe the US recovery is gathering pace, perhaps with the prospect of dragging Europe along with it.The main indicator out of the US will be the number of new home sales, due after the market closes in London but hopes are high the figures will show an improvement on the 315,000 annualised rate in November. This would come on top of a decline in US unemployment claims reported yesterday.In the UK, the market is still absorbing the upwardly revised 0.6% GDP growth figure reported yesterday. A slight black spot, however, has been the monthly bank lending figures which have revealed a weakening in both mortgage lending and lending to businesses. The figures from the BBA also showed unsecured borrowing, like credit cards and overdrafts also fell in November.As well, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that service sector output contracted at a 0.7% on month rate of change in October.All of the above indicators contributed to a fall in 10 year gilt yields to below 2% for the first time. Company newsFTSE 250 digital sports firm Perform announced a move into the German market with the takeover of Spox Media and mediasports Digital for an initial cash consideration of €3.65m. Black's Leisure continued its death spiral, announcing no offers had come in to take over the company so it is now just a question of disposing of its assets; predators like Sports Direct lie in wait. The share price took a hammering, falling to less than a penny. Another tiddler getting hammered was drugs developer SkyePharma, after its Flutiform asthma treatment ran into further regulatory delays.AIM listed Antrim Energy gave FTSE 250 firm Premier Oil an early Christmas present with a successful dig on a new North Sea discovery in which they both own a 50% stake. The news lifted Premier but Antrim fell back.Property firm London and Stamford sold 17 warehouses for £265m. The company plans to recycle the funds by going on the acquisition trail in 2012.FTSE 100 - RisersTullow Oil (TLW) 1,385.00p +3.05%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 606.00p +2.54%National Grid (NG.) 618.00p +2.49%Reed Elsevier (REL) 516.00p +2.48%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,228.00p +2.42%SABMiller (SAB) 2,238.00p +2.22%CRH (CRH) 1,253.00p +2.20%Amec (AMEC) 902.50p +2.15%BP (BP.) 459.70p +2.09%Man Group (EMG) 127.90p +1.99%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 25.69p -0.62%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 20.54p -0.34%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,534.00p -0.32%Serco Group (SRP) 468.60p -0.28%Old Mutual (OML) 135.30p -0.22%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,054.00p -0.19%Experian (EXPN) 839.50p -0.06%Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,940.00p -0.05%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,388.50p -0.04%G4S (GFS) 264.50p 0.00%FTSE 250 - RisersRegus (RGU) 85.00p +6.25%Supergroup (SGP) 531.00p +5.78%Kenmare Resources (KMR) 45.10p +5.62%Homeserve (HSV) 296.00p +4.30%London & Stamford Property Ltd. (LSP) 108.80p +3.72%Misys (MSY) 234.80p +3.39%Soco International (SIA) 297.50p +3.26%DS Smith (SMDS) 192.80p +2.94%Caledonia Investments (CLDN) 1,375.00p +2.77%IG Group Holdings (IGG) 493.50p +2.60%FTSE 250 - FallersOcado Group (OCDO) 56.75p -3.81%Carpetright (CPR) 490.00p -3.54%Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 140.15p -3.01%Perform Group (PER) 205.00p -2.38%Brown (N.) Group (BWNG) 227.20p -1.94%Kier Group (KIE) 1,333.00p -1.70%Computacenter (CCC) 338.00p -1.52%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 389.30p -1.49%Renishaw (RSW) 920.00p -1.45%Interserve (IRV) 314.30p -1.41%FTSE TechMARK - RisersTorotrak (TRK) 35.38p +6.79%Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 159.50p +2.90%Vislink (VLK) 20.75p +2.47%FTSE TechMARK - FallersSkyepharma (SKP) 33.00p -15.92%Oxford Biomedica (OXB) 2.95p -5.60%Phytopharm (PYM) 7.83p -3.10%Psion (PON) 46.00p -2.13%The team at Sharecast and Digital Look would like to wish all our readers a merry Christmas.