London open: Footsie flat early on

The Footsie has opened flat despite expectations that Thursday's vote by Slovakia to expand the Eurozone' rescue fund would give a boost to equities early on.After the close last night, the expansion of Eurozone's rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF), was approved by Slovak MPs, two days after they voted against the move. 114 MPs voted in favour, while 30 voted against. The action now means that every Eurozone member has approved the plan to increase the fund to €440bn and give it the ability to purchase sovereign bonds, as well as granting it powers to extend emergency lending.However, yesterday's disheartening data from China is likely to weigh on sentiment today. Chinese exports rose 17.1% from year earlier in September, a growth rate which would please most nations, but which was below market expectations. It was also under the 24.5% annual increase seen the month earlier. Imports were 20.9% higher than a year earlier, and this rate of improvement was also less than anticipated. BANKS CONTINUE TO FALLLloyds was the heaviest faller in the opening minutes, a day after having its rating downgraded by Fitch. Lloyds, along with Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) had its rating cut from AA- to A, with Fitch saying that they are now less likely to receive government support in the future.Standard Chartered, HSBC and Barclays were also lower.Power systems firm Rolls-Royce was falling, retreating after gaining over 9% yesterday as its revealed two major initiatives which are expected to significantly raise its operating profits in the future.Information technology services provider Computacenter was the worst performer on the FTSE 250 after saying that without contributions from recent acquisitions, revenues fell by 1% in the third quarter.Jupiter Fund Management was the high riser despite seeing its assets under management fall by 10% in the three months to 30 September.Engineering software group AVEVA rose after saying that it is optimistic that a reorganisation in China should deliver strong growth in the second half.Online fashion retailer ASOS dropped 7% after revealing that sales growth slowed down in the second quarter to 49%, from 63% in the first.BCFTSE 100 - RisersUnilever (ULVR) 2,090.00p +1.60%BP (BP.) 410.35p +1.12%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,143.00p +0.88%Essar Energy (ESSR) 274.90p +0.84%Glencore International (GLEN) 439.30p +0.83%WPP (WPP) 635.00p +0.71%Weir Group (WEIR) 1,638.00p +0.61%Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,182.00p +0.60%International Power (IPR) 329.00p +0.58%Carnival (CCL) 2,161.00p +0.56%FTSE 100 - FallersLloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 33.70p -1.63%Aviva (AV.) 331.80p -1.46%Kingfisher (KGF) 258.80p -1.33%Xstrata (XTA) 932.80p -1.25%Next (NXT) 2,580.00p -1.11%Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 680.50p -1.09%Lonmin (LMI) 1,070.00p -1.02%Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,397.50p -0.99%HSBC Holdings (HSBA) 518.30p -0.92%Barclays (BARC) 171.75p -0.84%FTSE 250 - RisersJupiter Fund Management (JUP) 213.40p +3.69%JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 845.00p +3.62%Exillon Energy (EXI) 266.30p +3.26%Perform Group (PER) 208.30p +3.12%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 79.50p +2.85%Savills (SVS) 290.90p +2.76%Thomas Cook Group (TCG) 50.35p +2.76%Shanks Group (SKS) 112.30p +2.56%Pace (PIC) 94.25p +2.50%Hunting (HTG) 625.00p +2.46%FTSE 250 - FallersComputacenter (CCC) 370.00p -3.19%Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 155.50p -2.81%Ocado Group (OCDO) 90.15p -2.54%Salamander Energy (SMDR) 200.90p -2.29%SIG (SHI) 94.45p -1.92%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 193.40p -1.53%Home Retail Group (HOME) 129.50p -1.45%RPS Group (RPS) 168.20p -1.35%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 232.60p -1.32%Bankers Inv Trust (BNKR) 377.00p -1.23%