London market 'treading water'

The Footsie index of 100 leading stocks is ahead 12.8 points at 4708.9 at lunchtime.

Philip Shaw, an economist at Investec, says the market has been "treading water" virtually all day.

He says traders will not glean much from the European Central Bank's decision to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.75%.

Among the risers are Shell and BP, up 11½p to 475½p and 13½p at 533p respectively, on the day the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Companies announces it has agreed to leave output levels unchanged.

Drugs companies are also on the up, with GlaxoSmithKline up 44p at £18.58; and AstraZeneca ahead 100p at £30.55.

Financial stocks doing well include Schroders NV, up 25p at 630½p; HSBC, up 14p at 649p; and Prudential, 12p stronger at 627p. But Barclays is off 15p at £18.03; Royal Bank of Scotland has slipped 56p at £14.25p; and HBoS has dipped 28p to hit 722p.

Lloyds TSB is also down, shedding 4% or 24½p at 609½p, after it confirmed that it will take up a listing on the New York Stock Exchange in November.

Corporate activity, in the main, has been restricted to smaller companies, with in-flight caterer and airport retailer Alpha Airports reporting a 22% rise in half-year profits. The group, which said it was confident of absorbing the impact from the terror attacks in the US, has seen its share price rise by 1½p to 47p.

Shares in GWR, owner of Classic FM, are down 4% or 6½p to 166p after it predicted an 8% fall in first-half like-for-like revenue. Scottish Radio Holdings is down 5p at 587½p after it said that, while company-wide revenues are predicted to rise, full-year radio income is likely to slip by 3%.

But it's a different story for Capital Radio, which is up 3% or 13½p to 511p. It has also predicted a slump in advertising revenues, but said it was on track to hit full-year underlying pre-tax profits of £30m, slightly ahead of the market consensus of £28.5m.