London open: Heavy hitters impress early on - BT, BSkyB, Lloyds...

- Results impress from BT, BSkyB, Lloyds...- Chinese manufacturing beats expectations- Footsie gains 0.3 per cent early onFollowing a sell-off the day before, the FTSE 100 rebounded on Thursday morning with well-received results from blue chip constituents BT Group, BSkyB, Lloyds, Shell and Legal & General boosting buying early on.Meanwhile, a better-than-expected reading of Chinese manufacturing data was also helping to lift sentiment this morning.The HSBC Chinese manufacturing sector purchasing managers' index for the month of October rose to 49.5, from 47.9 in the month before, according to survey compiler Markit. This was an eight-month high and not far from the key level of 50 which indicates that the sector contraction has ceased. The consensus estimate was for 49.1."However similar to the US some companies in Asia are also struggling badly with Panasonic reporting a much higher than expected loss and Sony also posting a loss instead of a profit somewhat neutralising the positive effect the good economic data out of China is having on financial markets," said Markus Huber, the head of German HNW trading at ETX Capital.Heavy hitters impressTelecommunications giant BT surged after it bumped up its interim dividend following a solid second quarter which saw profits before tax grow 7% despite a 9% fall in adjusted revenue. Pay-TV and broadband provider BSkyB advanced after seeing decent growth across the board in the first quarter, helped by the number of high-profile sporting events that fell in the period, such as the US Open, Ryder Cup and Olympic Games.Banking giant Lloyds gained after saying that it is making progress despite delivering a statutory loss before tax of £583m for the first nine months of the year, including a further Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) provision of £1bn in the third quarter.Anglo-Dutch integrated oil major Shell rose after its third-quarter net income was comfortably ahead of expectations. "I am pleased with our progress in a difficult industry environment. There is more to come from Shell," said CEO Peter Voser.Investments and insurance group Legal & General was wanted after generating record revenues in the third quarter, with UK and US protection sales each rising by around a third. However, not all updates received approval by the markets this morning: speciality chemicals group Croda tanked after selling its Italian business and saying that month-to-month trading in the third quarter had been "volatile".Oilfield support services company Wood Group also fell after announcing that a series of management changes has come into effect today, including the retirement of its Chairman Sir Ian Wood.Commodities trader and mines owner Glencore was subdued after saying its third quarter was a good one, despite generally weaker commodity prices.FTSE 100 - RisersBT Group (BT.A) 224.50p +5.65%Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 41.84p +3.11%British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 731.00p +3.10%Legal & General Group (LGEN) 136.90p +2.16%Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 281.70p +2.07%Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,189.00p +1.97%ARM Holdings (ARM) 676.50p +1.73%GKN (GKN) 210.90p +1.59%Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,274.00p +1.35%Evraz (EVR) 238.80p +1.10%FTSE 100 - FallersCroda International (CRDA) 2,096.00p -4.77%BG Group (BG.) 1,097.00p -4.40%BP (BP.) 439.15p -0.94%Smith & Nephew (SN.) 650.00p -0.76%Sainsbury (J) (SBRY) 352.40p -0.62%ITV (ITV) 86.10p -0.52%Capital Shopping Centres Group (CSCG) 331.30p -0.51%Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,397.00p -0.50%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,597.00p -0.44%Kingfisher (KGF) 288.30p -0.41%FTSE 250 - RisersCentamin (DI) (CEY) 73.40p +15.00%Dixons Retail (DXNS) 21.65p +5.10%Domino's Pizza Group (DOM) 522.00p +3.26%New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 263.80p +2.85%Home Retail Group (HOME) 117.10p +2.63%Cookson Group (CKSN) 597.50p +2.58%Hunting (HTG) 765.00p +2.20%Afren (AFR) 140.70p +2.18%Soco International (SIA) 345.10p +2.16%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 465.30p +1.91%FTSE 250 - FallersChemring Group (CHG) 259.00p -17.44%Ruspetro (RPO) 100.10p -2.82%Bank of Georgia Holdings (BGEO) 1,159.00p -2.52%SDL (SDL) 517.50p -2.45%Mondi (MNDI) 668.00p -2.05%Perform Group (PER) 394.40p -1.65%Beazley (BEZ) 173.00p -1.20%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 489.60p -1.09%Lonmin (LMI) 508.00p -0.97%Playtech Ltd. (PTEC) 420.00p -0.85%BC