London open: BT leads the risers early on

The Footsie rose in the opening hour of Friday's session, helped by a strong performance by financial stocks. Company news was thin on the ground early on but BT was the best performer after announcing plans to eliminate its pension deficit within 10 years.The blue chip index remains nearly 100 points down on last Friday's close of 5,966.In economic news, the Nationwide consumer confidence index declined from 47 to 44 in February. "The fall in confidence was broadly based with deteriorations seen in consumers' assessment of the current economic situation, the future outlook and their willingness to pay," said analysts at Barclays Capital.Meanwhile in Europe, European Central Bank (ECB) President Mario Draghi said he opposes both the exit of Greece from the Eurozone and the idea of Eurozone bonds. In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, Draghi said that the need for the Hellenic Republic to implement reforms wouldn't decrease and a withdrawal from the single currency would only result in high inflation and instability in a situation where no one would lend the country any money.Former ECB member Jürgen Stark has warned that the incredible amount of money that the monetary authority has injected into the system - through its long-term refinancing operations - could cause high inflation.BT JUMPS ON PENSION DEFICIT UPDATETelecoms titan BT is to make a lump sum payment of £2bn into the pension scheme to nearly halve the £4.1bn pension deficit before the end of March. That will then be followed by inn separate payments of £325m in March of every year to 2021. The agreement "reflects BT's financial strength and re-affirms our commitment to the scheme," said Chief Executive Ian Livingston. Shares jumped over 5% early on.High street banks Lloyds, Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland were making strong gains joined by financials Schroders and Old Mutual. Lloyds was rising despite saying yesterday that the sale of 632 of its branches to The Co-operative Group has faced delays due to the 'complex' nature of the deal.On the FTSE 250, Phoenix Group, the insurance consolidation company which has attracted the interest of private equity, was in demand after cash generation beat its own targets in 2011. However, net income declined to £6,490m from £7,543m in 2010, while profit before finance costs and tax dipped to £247m from £280m the year before.Meanwhile, Randgold Resources was the worst performer on the blue chip index for a second day, plagued by disruption concerns in Mali. Yesterday, shares sank as much as 15% on the back of reports of a military coup in Mali, the country where two of its three main projects are located. While the firm has assured that operations are still running normally, the stock was hit by a downgrade from Citigroup this morning.Capital Shopping Centres Group was also feeling the effects of a downgrade from Societe Generale.BCFTSE 100 - RisersBT Group (BT.A) 231.30p +5.04%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 183.90p +2.57%Kingfisher (KGF) 312.30p +1.59%Whitbread (WTB) 1,775.00p +1.54%GKN (GKN) 210.30p +1.40%Next (NXT) 2,954.00p +1.37%IMI (IMI) 961.00p +1.37%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 35.73p +1.35%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 28.27p +1.33%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,304.00p +1.32%FTSE 100 - FallersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,650.00p -1.99%British American Tobacco (BATS) 3,203.00p -0.22%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 340.50p -0.21%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 562.20p -0.21%Intertek Group (ITRK) 2,523.00p -0.12%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 628.50p -0.08%Capita (CPI) 736.00p -0.07%Sage Group (SGE) 292.70p -0.07%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,244.00p 0.00%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,221.00p 0.00%FTSE 250 - RisersEssar Energy (ESSR) 150.40p +6.67%Supergroup (SGP) 659.50p +4.52%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 433.30p +3.29%Regus (RGU) 118.00p +3.06%Redrow (RDW) 133.50p +2.69%Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 496.30p +2.41%easyJet (EZJ) 463.00p +1.92%Britvic (BVIC) 385.10p +1.80%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 19.15p +1.59%AG Barr (BAG) 1,235.00p +1.40%FTSE 250 - FallersDunelm Group (DNLM) 484.80p -4.19%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 299.30p -1.42%Michael Page International (MPI) 475.00p -1.35%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 37.50p -1.26%Petra Diamonds Ltd.(DI) (PDL) 172.00p -1.26%Diploma (DPLM) 401.90p -1.25%Dairy Crest Group (DCG) 339.40p -1.02%Kentz Corporation Ltd. (KENZ) 445.70p -0.93%Debenhams (DEB) 79.25p -0.88%Logica (LOG) 96.70p -0.82%