London open: Lloyds and Unilever join fightback

Stocks are staging a partial fightback following yesterday's slide, with second quarter results driving many stocks higher.Among those risers is Lloyds Banking. The headline items are a £3.2bn provision for potential claims relating to the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, and underlying profit before tax (excluding liability management and enhanced capital notes (ECN) effects totalling £851m) of £1,340m, up 36% from £988m in the first half of 2010.Strong growth in emerging markets helped Anglo-Dutch food and household goods giant Unilever post higher sales and profits in the first half, though margins fell back as price rises failed to wholly offset the impact of higher input costs. The maker of Dove soap, Magnum ice creams and a host of other brands, posted turnover of €22.79bn for the first half, up 4.1% from the same period a year ago, while net profit climbed by 9% to €2.4bn. Insurer Aviva and gold miner Randgold Resources are also up on second quarter results, but Inmarsat has come crashing back down to earth after the satellite operator's interim numbersIn the FTSE 250, US payment services provider Fidelity National Information Services has pulled out of offer talks with application software provider Misys, a heavy faller today.Investors are raising a glass to pub group Enterprise Inns, which is making a slow recovery with its average income per pub up just 1% from a year earlier in the 18 weeks since the beginning of April. The company, which struggled to repay its debt during the recession, benefited from two bank holidays and good weather but blamed the small year-on-year improvement on a difficult like-for-like comparative period which included the FIFA World Cup. FTSE 100 - RisersRandgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,810.00p +4.59%Unilever (ULVR) 1,991.00p +4.51%Schroders (SDR) 1,636.00p +3.87%Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,337.00p +3.64%Aviva (AV.) 387.10p +3.28%Glencore International (GLEN) 435.60p +2.17%Admiral Group (ADM) 1,564.00p +2.02%ARM Holdings (ARM) 562.50p +1.99%Weir Group (WEIR) 2,055.00p +1.93%International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (IAG) 216.30p +1.84%FTSE 100 - FallersInmarsat (ISAT) 427.10p -12.64%Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 2,087.00p -1.58%Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 2,081.00p -1.49%Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,979.50p -0.88%Fresnillo (FRES) 1,893.00p -0.73%John Wood Group (WG.) 620.50p -0.64%BG Group (BG.) 1,363.00p -0.55%Essar Energy (ESSR) 329.80p -0.51%Anglo American (AAL) 2,768.00p -0.41%Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,328.00p -0.38%FTSE 250 - RisersEnterprise Inns (ETI) 48.68p +4.71%Spirent Communications (SPT) 131.50p +4.45%Ferrexpo (FXPO) 448.40p +4.45%Unite Group (UTG) 215.90p +4.20%Perform Group (PER) 179.20p +4.19%Imagination Technologies Group (IMG) 367.10p +3.96%Hansteen Holdings (HSTN) 82.75p +3.76%Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 523.00p +3.67%Keller Group (KLR) 439.30p +3.36%Hochschild Mining (HOC) 527.00p +3.33%FTSE 250 - FallersMisys (MSY) 298.00p -16.78%Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 264.00p -2.26%Gem Diamonds Ltd. (DI) (GEMD) 207.00p -1.43%Carpetright (CPR) 569.00p -1.39%Yule Catto & Co (YULC) 195.50p -1.01%Afren (AFR) 132.20p -0.68%Premier Foods (PFD) 16.71p -0.54%Redrow (RDW) 128.00p -0.39%Supergroup (SGP) 939.50p -0.05%Tullett Prebon (TLPR) 368.80p -0.03%