London open: FTSE bounces as corporate earnings impress

UK stocks bounced on Wednesday morning as investors picked up bargains after the FTSE 100 dropped to a one-month low the previous session.Blue chips Imperial Tobacco, Legal & General and GKN were leading the rise after impressing investors with results, while Vodafone was boosted by a broker upgrade.The Footsie was up 0.47% at 6,960 early on after having closed at 6,927.58 on Tuesday, its lowest finish since 2 April.Nevertheless, political uncertainty is likely to cap gains with less than 24 hours to go before voting begins."Tomorrow's general election in the UK remains a key political event this week but the polls have barely moved for months and that is unlikely to change now, the campaign is effectively already over," said Oanda analyst Craig Erlam.Service-sector data from across the globe will also be closely watched, with numbers out from China, the UK and Eurozone, along with Eurozone retail sales and the closely-followed ADP employment report in the States.While the latter is only seen as a very rough guide to official US non-farm payrolls data, it still has the potential to move markets as investors predict the outcome of the government data due on Friday. Analysts predict the ADP figures will show a 200,000 increase in private payrolls in April after a 189,000 gain in March.The Chinese services purchasing managers' index released overnight rose to a four-month high of 52.9, up from 52.3 in March but slightly below expectations.Imperial, L&G, GKN and Vodafone riseImperial Tobacco gained after lifting its dividend 10% as its growth brands delivered strong growth and earnings beat expectations in the first half. Adjusted earnings per share were up 4% to 93.3p.Legal & General also impressed with an 8% increase in first-quarter net cash generation to £326m, while annuity sales jumped 19%.Engineering giant GKN was in demand after saying it still expects growth in 2015 as a strong automotive performance drove a 1% increase in organic sales in the first quarter.Vodafone was making decent gains after Exane BNP Paribas raised its rating on the stock to 'outperform' and lifted its target price from 220p to 270p. The broker said: "There are much better times ahead in our view."Sainsbury's was among the fallers after swinging to its first annual loss in a decade. The grocer reported a loss before tax of £72m for the year ended March, compared with a £898m profit previously, prompting it to slash it full-year dividend by 23.7%.Software company Sage underwhelmed by saying it's on track to meet 2015 targets, as it reported a 6.2% rise in organic revenue for the first half of this year.Market MoverstechMARK 3,182.79 +0.29%FTSE 100 6,960.00 +0.47%FTSE 250 17,477.88 +0.15%FTSE 100 - RisersImperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 3,207.00p +2.79%Mondi (MNDI) 1,322.00p +2.40%St James's Place (STJ) 889.00p +2.13%Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 164.90p +2.04%Barratt Developments (BDEV) 514.00p +1.78%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 261.70p +1.71%Vodafone Group (VOD) 232.05p +1.53%Dixons Carphone (DC.) 432.30p +1.50%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 83.45p +1.26%TUI AG Reg Shs (DI) (TUI) 1,218.00p +1.25%FTSE 100 - FallersSage Group (SGE) 487.70p -1.77%CRH (CRH) 1,817.00p -1.68%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 271.30p -1.35%Coca-Cola HBC AG (CDI) (CCH) 1,399.00p -1.27%Land Securities Group (LAND) 1,209.00p -0.98%Meggitt (MGGT) 520.00p -0.95%Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 446.50p -0.91%London Stock Exchange Group (LSE) 2,456.00p -0.85%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,556.00p -0.83%easyJet (EZJ) 1,766.00p -0.73%FTSE 250 - RisersSupergroup (SGP) 1,047.00p +5.01%Ocado Group (OCDO) 370.00p +4.02%Evraz (EVR) 202.00p +3.91%Wetherspoon (J.D.) (JDW) 761.50p +3.46%Premier Oil (PMO) 184.60p +2.90%Lonmin (LMI) 154.60p +2.52%Home Retail Group (HOME) 164.30p +1.80%AO World (AO.) 183.10p +1.72%Howden Joinery Group (HWDN) 463.50p +1.64%Ophir Energy (OPHR) 144.90p +1.61%FTSE 250 - FallersInmarsat (ISAT) 962.50p -2.53%Big Yellow Group (BYG) 641.00p -2.44%Zoopla Property Group (WI) (ZPLA) 210.00p -2.33%Indivior (INDV) 215.30p -2.31%Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 109.60p -2.14%Greene King (GNK) 802.00p -2.14%Man Group (EMG) 179.70p -2.07%Enterprise Inns (ETI) 121.20p -1.78%NMC Health (NMC) 764.50p -1.67%Virgin Money Holdings (UK) (VM.) 393.10p -1.48%