GKN got a boost after Jefferies said that company has a sound platform for solid growth after the engineering group's pre-tax profit came in ahead of its predictions.

Chemicals group Croda was also a bright spot after saying that it has made an encouraging start to the new year. The company said that profit before tax rose 6.6% in 2012 on sales which increased 2.3%.

Building materials firm CRH returned to positive territory after initially sitting in the red, as investors took note of its positive performance in the US, which it believes will drive growth over the coming year. This morning the group announced that its CEO Myles Lee is to retire at the end of the year after five years running the show. The news came as the company reported lower-than-expected sales for 2012.

Cyclical sectors such as banking were firmly out of favour today as the political impasse in Italy shook investor confidence.

UK lenders Barclays, RBS and Lloyds were all registering steep losses with RBS weighed down by comments from Nomura ahead of its full-year results on Thursday. The broker said that the group "still faces material uncertainties with respect to deleveraging, asset quality and the future shape of operations, and remain cautiously positioned on the name."

Costa coffee and restaurant group Whitbread was also lower despite a fourth-quarter update saying that it is on track to hit full-year forecasts. The company did admit that like-for-like sales growth was "slightly surprised" by the poor weather conditions in January.


FTSE 100 - Risers
GKN (GKN) 262.60p +4.08%
Croda International (CRDA) 2,593.00p +1.45%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 835.00p +1.09%
CRH (CRH) 1,436.00p +1.06%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,525.00p +0.91%
Rexam (REX) 509.00p +0.79%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,823.00p +0.44%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 804.00p +0.44%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,142.00p +0.26%
ITV (ITV) 120.00p +0.17%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Barclays (BARC) 296.80p -4.76%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 340.50p -4.03%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,172.00p -3.86%
Whitbread (WTB) 2,472.00p -3.55%
Wood Group (John) (WG.) 769.50p -3.51%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 53.09p -3.35%
Schroders (SDR) 1,977.00p -3.28%
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) 354.60p -3.11%
Evraz (EVR) 263.50p -3.02%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,192.00p -3.01%

NR

Related share prices
Barclays (BARC) share price
GKN (GKN) share price
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) share price
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Whitbread (WTB) share price
Croda International (CRDA) share price
CRH (CRH) share price
Vedanta Resources (VED) share price
Eurasian Natural Resources Corp. (ENRC) share price