London open: Footsie flat despite mining strength

- Miners rise strongly, led by Rio- Imperial has smoking second quarter- FirstGroup drops on the FTSE 250 It was a cautious start for UK stocks, with London's blue chip index trading flat early on, not far off the 5,800 level. The FTSE 100 has not closed below this level in over three weeks.Eyes were on the Eurozone as, according to a draft document seen by Bloomberg, finance ministers could finally decide tomorrow to boost the firewall to nearly €1tn by running the EFSF (€200bn) and ESM (€500bn) simultaneously as well as a further €240bn available if the initial capacity proves insufficient. €1tn has been the amount batted around the markets for some time now. In fact, OECD secretary-general Ángel Gurría said this week that the fund should be "at least" that much. MINERS ON THE RECOVERY PATHMiners were performing strongly early on, rebounding after their recent underperformance which has seen stock lose an average 11.7% over the last month. Rio Tinto, Polymetal, Fresnillo, Evraz and BHP Billiton were making gains in the opening hour with Rio leading the charge after revealing yesterday afternoon that it has received a binding offer for its specialty aluminas business from HIG. Even Anglo American edged higher, shrugging off a downgrade from Societe Generale.Cigarettes maker Imperial Tobacco was also a high riser after saying it improved its revenue and profit momentum as it entered the second half of its financial year. First half reported tobacco net revenues (at constant exchange rates) are expected to increase by around 3%, compared with the 1% fall in the three months to the end of December.High street retailing peers Marks & Spencer and Next were the worst performers after first-quarter numbers from the world's third-largest clothes retailer, Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), missed estimates. Elsewhere in the sector, shares in Home Retail fell after the company announced that its long-standing Chairman, Oliver Stocken, is to retire after 12 years on the job.Real estate investment trust Land Securities edged higher after saying that is to sell its 3.3 acre Arundel Great Court property, situated just south of the Strand, in London for£234m, which "frees up capital for reinvestment into other higher value-add opportunities," according to Jefferies.FTSE 250: FIRSTGROUP PLUMMETS EARLY ONTransport firm FirstGroup said that lower economic activity in the north of England is putting pressure on its UK Bus business, causing shares to tumble in early trade. The group said like-for-like revenues in UK Bus, in the 12 months to the end of March, will be 1.5% ahead of 2010-2011. The North of England and Scotland however are seeing "considerably lower" growth rates and that's where 60% of revenues are generated.Travel sector peers Stagecoach, Go-Ahead and National Express were also out of favour. Go-Ahead announced this morning that it has been shortlisted to bid for the new Thameslink franchises but has not been invited to bid for the Essex Thameside contract. Go-Ahead says it will be seeking feedback from the Department for Transport on the failure.Cape, the provider of non-mechanical support services to the energy and mineral resources sectors, dropped after announcing that Martin May is standing down as Chief Executive and as a director of the company with immediate effect to 'pursue a new challenge'.Heading the other way was private equity investment group 3i after saying that, after a tough start to the year, market sentiment has improved in the last couple of months leading to a strong performance in the company's investment portfolio.FTSE 100 - RisersRio Tinto (RIO) 3,397.50p +2.46%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,643.00p +2.11%Evraz (EVR) 366.40p +1.83%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,564.00p +1.75%Polymetal International (POLY) 940.50p +1.68%Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 601.00p +1.09%Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,550.00p +1.09%Glencore International (GLEN) 392.75p +0.90%Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,243.00p +0.89%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,128.00p +0.89%FTSE 100 - FallersMarks & Spencer Group (MKS) 378.00p -1.61%SSE (SSE) 1,308.00p -1.43%Kingfisher (KGF) 306.30p -1.13%Next (NXT) 2,977.00p -1.06%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 333.70p -1.04%British Land Co (BLND) 480.80p -1.03%ARM Holdings (ARM) 594.00p -1.00%Bunzl (BNZL) 996.00p -0.90%Capita (CPI) 734.50p -0.88%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,152.00p -0.78%FTSE 250 - RisersBwin.party Digital Entertainment (BPTY) 153.20p +4.79%3i Group (III) 212.80p +4.31%Ruspetro (RPO) 209.50p +3.51%Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CW.) 34.79p +2.32%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 219.30p +2.29%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 438.80p +2.00%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 472.30p +1.79%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 186.10p +1.75%Lonmin (LMI) 1,070.00p +1.61%International Personal Finance (IPF) 261.10p +1.60%FTSE 250 - FallersFirstGroup (FGP) 248.00p -14.22%Cape (CIU) 416.10p -5.47%Go-Ahead Group (GOG) 1,247.00p -4.15%TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 140.30p -3.24%Petropavlovsk (POG) 606.50p -2.33%Lamprell (LAM) 331.20p -2.30%Bumi (BUMI) 644.50p -2.20%Perform Group (PER) 301.30p -2.18%RPC Group (RPC) 373.10p -2.07%National Express Group (NEX) 246.80p -2.06%