London midday: Heavyweight corporate earnings lift FTSE 100

London share prices remained mostly in positive territory by midday on Thursday, as strong corporate results from heavyweights in various sectors, notably Shell, RBS and Astrazeneca, combined with a stronger oil price.

At 12:15 the FTSE was up 0.79% to 6,683.11, almost recapturing all the gains lost on Friday and Monday, while the FTSE 250 was up 0.11% at 17,532.67.

Earlier, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Composite index reversed earlier gains in the final stretch of the session to close lower by 2.2% at 3,705.77 points.

Taking a macroeconomic perspective on the equity gains, the slightly more confident language from the US Federal Reserve overnight seems to have increased the market's confidence of at least one US interest rate rise in 2015, with it felt that the door to a September rise was left open.

Analyst Mike Van Dulken at Accendo Markets suggested the not entirely bullish performance from stocks was perhaps a "signal that investors have turned a corner, ready for a stronger hint and for the FOMC to break the seal sooner rather than later".

He added that while US jobs appear on the rise, the other half of the Fed's mandate - inflation – along with external events such as Greece and China and a stronger USD were legitimate reasons that could allow the central bank to hold off from a rate hike until year-end.

On a more positive note, reports were indicating that the International Monetary Fund gave its backing for talks to begin with Greece over a new bailout programme.

Shell and Centrica announce big job cuts

As it revealed 6,500 job cuts, Royal Dutch Shell delivered a 35% decline in adjusted quarterly profits to $3.8bn though this was well ahead of consensus estimates of $3.4bn. The oil major also kept its dividend steady at $0.47 for both A and B shares.

Progress over its acquisition also lifted BG Group shares as well.

Centrica's own big swathe of job cuts were less well received. The British Gas owner announced it will slash a net 4,000 jobs from its workforce, double the rumoured amount, as it also almost doubled its first-half profit. The company, which said it was aiming to cost cuts by £750m a year by 2020, will cut back investment in oil and gas production by more than half.

High among the risers was drug group AstraZeneca as second-quarter numbers came in better-than-expected, with revenue and earnings per share both ahead of analysts’ expectations as generic competition and the effects of a stronger US dollar were offset by the spinning off of assets.

Royal Bank of Scotland saw profits decline in the second quarter, as a result of lower income at its corporate and institutional banking unit after it was downsized and higher restructuring costs, but nevertheless beat analysts' estimates by a wide margin.

Engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce stuck to its current full-year 2015 guidance and chose to emphasise the positive outlook for the year thanks to continued growth in its order book. Management however was still smarting after it was forced to downgrade its guidance for free cash-flow generation on 6 July.

Babcock International led the fallers despite the engineer saying it was on track to meet its full- and half-year forecasts. Its defence are has been expected to experience some softness but the group continued to experience strong demand from existing clients in its marine and support services divisions.

BT was another big faller despite a solid set of first quarter results that were close to City forecasts and left it on track to hit its full-year targets. Revenue of £4.28bn was down 2% and a tiny 0.3% short of consensus forecasts. On an underlying level the top line was flat, an improvement on the fourth quarter of the previous year.

Market Movers
techMARK 3,182.77 +0.19%
FTSE 100 6,674.25 +0.65%
FTSE 250 17,531.72 +0.11%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Royal Dutch Shell 'B' (RDSB) 1,846.50p +3.91%
BG Group (BG.) 1,080.50p +3.89%
Royal Dutch Shell 'A' (RDSA) 1,831.00p +3.77%
AstraZeneca (AZN) 4,303.00p +2.67%
Rolls-Royce Holdings (RR.) 746.00p +2.12%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 1,159.00p +2.11%
Taylor Wimpey (TW.) 188.70p +1.78%
Barclays (BARC) 288.65p +1.42%
BAE Systems (BA.) 475.70p +1.30%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 357.70p +1.27%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Babcock International Group (BAB) 1,003.00p -3.46%
Centrica (CNA) 267.80p -2.69%
BT Group (BT.A) 463.75p -2.06%
International Consolidated Airlines Group SA (CDI) (IAG) 542.50p -1.54%
Shire Plc (SHP) 5,640.00p -1.05%
Intu Properties (INTU) 329.40p -0.99%
easyJet (EZJ) 1,667.00p -0.95%
Carnival (CCL) 3,404.00p -0.84%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 2,602.00p -0.80%
Aberdeen Asset Management (ADN) 365.30p -0.73%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Hellermanntyton Group (HTY) 471.00p +41.82%
Laird (LRD) 400.10p +14.38%
Inchcape (INCH) 809.50p +7.57%
Bodycote (BOY) 671.50p +3.31%
Henderson Group (HGG) 273.60p +3.13%
Jupiter Fund Management (JUP) 465.30p +2.83%
Ophir Energy (OPHR) 113.10p +2.45%
Acacia Mining (ACA) 246.20p +2.33%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 632.50p +2.10%
Pets at Home Group (PETS) 279.70p +2.04%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Countrywide (CWD) 521.50p -5.70%
Lonmin (LMI) 53.20p -4.32%
Ocado Group (OCDO) 385.10p -3.44%
Premier Farnell (PFL) 135.20p -3.43%
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 319.30p -2.18%
Investec (INVP) 587.00p -2.17%
Evraz (EVR) 99.40p -2.07%
Fidelity China Special Situations (FCSS) 133.50p -1.84%
Riverstone Energy Limited (RSE) 940.00p -1.78%
Beazley (BEZ) 335.80p -1.67%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Dialight (DIA) 510.50p +3.34%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 16.50p +3.12%
CML Microsystems (CML) 369.00p +2.79%
RM (RM.) 174.75p +2.19%
NCC Group (NCC) 235.75p +1.18%
SDL (SDL) 403.00p +0.75%
Sepura (SEPU) 156.00p +0.65%
Consort Medical (CSRT) 929.50p +0.60%
Oxford Instruments (OXIG) 918.00p +0.55%
KCOM Group (KCOM) 94.50p +0.53%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
UCW Limited (UCW) A$0.01 -8.33%
Filtronic (FTC) 7.50p -1.64%
E2V Technologies (E2V) 226.50p -0.33%