London open: More gains for Footsie

Footsie has defied predictions of a fall early on and has pushed on again. The index has been rising steadily now for nearly two weeks.Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland are two of the best performers as banks go well again in the wake of the new Basel III guidelines announced yesterday.Rio Tinto is spending $803m ramping up the block cave project at its Argyle diamond mine in Western Australia to take advantage of strong demand in emerging markets.Bus and train group has National Express has been given a seven month extension on its East Anglia rail franchise.Department store Debenhams sounded a cautious note on consumer confidence but expects its strategy of lifting margins by selling more of its own label products to result in strong profits. The company saw flat like-for-like sales in the year to 28 August, with a recovery in the last 10 weeks making up for a 1.5% fall throughout the earlier part of the year.Telecoms firm Cable&Wireless Worldwide has convinced the government to spend £82m on a five and a half year global telecoms framework contract. The largely UK focused part of the old Cable & Wireless, split off in March, believes the deal with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), which also includes a suite of IP services, will pave the way for similar contracts with other government departments.Ultra-trendy fashion chain SuperGroup's sales jumped by nearly 60% in the three months to August, as the group expanded both in the UK and abroad. Fund manager Ashmore saw a big hike in profits last year as more money from existing clients meant assets under management increased steadily throughout the 12 months. The emerging markets specialist reported pre-tax profits of £217.2m in the year to June, up from £159.8m, on sales of £281.4m, up from £245.7m.