London open: Euro deal sends Footsie soaring

Stock markets across Europe are powering ahead after EU ministers agreed a €720bn deal to prop up the euro at the weekend.The three-year plan includes €60bn (£52bn) from all EU members, €440bn (£381bn) from the 16-nation eurozone and €220bn from the IMF.Footsie has bounded forward by over 4%, with similar gains seen in France and Germany and futures pointing to big gains for the US when it opens.Banks are leading the way forward with Barclays, Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland all surging as fears of big euro loan defaults recede. Miners are also going well. BP is the only faller at present. On the company announcement front, Centrica remains positive about the earnings outlook for 2010 as British Gas has added over 200,000 residential energy accounts so far this year and the upstream UK business maintains production targets. The group said its UK residential energy supply business British Gas had a "very strong" start to the year, with the number of joint energy and services households it serves up 50,000.Mining company Anglo American is to get out of the zinc business, selling its portfolio of zinc assets to Vedanta Resources. Vedanta is paying $1,338m for Anglo American Zinc on an attributable, debt and cash free basis.South African platinum miner Lonmin bounced back into the black at the interim stage on sharply increased revenue. Profit before tax for the six months to 31 March was $77m compared to a loss of $196m a year earlier. Revenue grew to $661m from $436m at the interim stage last year.BG Group has boosted its US shale gas interests with the acquisition of a 50% stake in partner EXCO's acreage in the Appalachian Basin at a total cost of $950m. Tougher competition and higher costs on some newer public sector contracts have hit contractor and support services group Interserve's performance so far in 2010.