London midday: UK stocks rise despite weak economic data

Weak economic data from Germany and the wider Eurozone failed to deter bullish investors on Monday as UK stocks continued to bounce off a 10-month low reached last week.London's FTSE 100, spurred by gains in the banking, airline and supermarket sectors, was trading nearly 0.4% higher at 6,550 by midday.This was the index's second straight day of gains after falling to 6,446.39 last Thursday, its lowest close since December 2013.Analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari said that investors could use the recent sell-off to "buy the dip": "Given the correction seen over the last couple of weeks, with the S&P falling almost 5% at one stage, this could provide a good opportunity for stocks to erase some of these losses."Germany factory data released before the open showed that orders dropped by 5.7% in August after a revised 4.9% increase in July. This was the largest decline in five years and disappointed analysts who were looking for a lesser fall of 2.5%.In other economic data, the Sentix Eurozone investor-confidence index dropped to -13.7 in October, the lowest since May 2013. This was down from -9.8 in September and much worse than the -11.5 consensus forecast. Banks, airlines, supermarkets on the riseBanking peers Barclays, HSBC, RBS and Standard Chartered were among the best performers on the top-tier index on Monday. Shares in HSBC and StanChart both look cheap, according to analysts at Barclays Capital.Budget airline Easyjet was continuing to make ground after upgrading its annual profit guidance last week. The stock was helped higher after positive comments from analysts at both Citigroup and Credit Suisse. Sector peer IAG was also higher after its chief executive Willie Walsh suggested in an interview that the British-Spanish conglomerate's first post-merger dividend could be announced in November.Grocery giants J Sainsbury, Wm Morrison and Tesco were also on the rise. Tesco's stock was attempting to rebound after a recent sell-off as the company appointed two veteran non-executive directors to beef up its board.UK retirement products group Just Retirement was making decent gains after Deutsche Bank lifted its rating on the stock from 'hold' to 'buy', saying that the market has "completely misunderstood" recent tax proposals from the government.On the AIM market, oil and gas explorer Petroceltic International saw shares surge after the company revealed it has received a £491.6m takeover approach from rival Dragon Oil.Online fashion retailer ASOS was on shopping lists in morning trade after UBS said that the company "seems ripe for an approach". The bank predicted that US internet marketplace Amazon could pay £50 a share in a potential takeover, compared with the current £20 price following recent weakness. Market MoverstechMARK 2,797.02 +0.26%FTSE 100 6,550.46 +0.35%FTSE 250 15,259.01 +0.19%FTSE 100 - RisersBarclays (BARC) 229.30p +2.09%Tesco (TSCO) 175.20p +1.77%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 371.00p +1.59%Tullow Oil (TLW) 609.50p +1.58%Johnson Matthey (JMAT) 2,911.00p +1.43%BG Group (BG.) 1,081.00p +1.41%Carnival (CCL) 2,477.00p +1.35%ITV (ITV) 208.70p +1.21%Antofagasta (ANTO) 688.50p +1.18%Old Mutual (OML) 179.40p +1.13%FTSE 100 - FallersAshtead Group (AHT) 1,002.00p -1.57%Sports Direct International (SPD) 603.00p -1.15%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 984.50p -1.10%Travis Perkins (TPK) 1,636.00p -1.09%Next (NXT) 6,590.00p -0.90%St James's Place (STJ) 712.50p -0.84%Royal Mail (RMG) 391.60p -0.76%United Utilities Group (UU.) 805.50p -0.56%Fresnillo (FRES) 716.00p -0.56%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,372.50p -0.46%FTSE 250 - RisersHays (HAS) 120.90p +4.31%Just Retirement Group (JRG) 124.60p +3.57%Croda International (CRDA) 2,205.00p +3.28%Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 665.50p +2.86%Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 4,917.00p +2.44%Law Debenture Corp. (LWDB) 518.50p +2.07%Henderson Group (HGG) 203.60p +2.00%Investec (INVP) 528.00p +1.83%Playtech (PTEC) 732.00p +1.81%Inmarsat (ISAT) 709.00p +1.72%FTSE 250 - FallersHochschild Mining (HOC) 119.20p -3.72%Lonmin (LMI) 161.00p -3.65%African Barrick Gold (ABG) 200.90p -2.62%Cranswick (CWK) 1,298.00p -2.04%Spirent Communications (SPT) 97.45p -2.01%Renishaw (RSW) 1,649.00p -1.96%Euromoney Institutional Investor (ERM) 972.50p -1.77%Bwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 89.30p -1.76%Brit (BRIT) 238.40p -1.73%Computacenter (CCC) 637.00p -1.70%