Essar Energy was leading the way higher after a court ruling in India wiped 26% of the company's share price yesterday.

The ruling appeared to put an end to Essar's use of a tax scheme for its oil refining operations in the state of Gujarat, which had seen the company defer $1.235bn in tax payments. Essar today says it is "examining all legal options" and expects to file a review petition in the next 30 days. Shares jumped 7%.

Hedge fund manager Man Group was also on the up despite seeing funds under management fall $6bn to $58.4bn at the end of December. Peel Hunt said this morning that the stock, trading at 7.9 times prospective earnings, is "undeniably cheap".

Cruise ship operator Carnival was sailing back to recovery - after the shares were battered on Monday - following the grounding of one of its ships last Friday, leading to 11 confirmed deaths.

Meanwhile, Tullow Oil was the worst performer after its production figures missed targets. The firm said that production for 2011 averaged 78.2 thousand barrels of oil equivalents per day (mboepd), slightly below the (already revised lower) guidance of 79-81m boepd.

Telecoms giant BT was also falling after being downgraded by UBS from buy to neutral on the back of concerns surrounding rising competition and pensions.

The stock was a strong performer in 2011, outperforming the UK market by 16%, and while the broker expects third quarter results (due on February 3rd) to show ongoing solid operating performance, uncertainties are arising from the launch of Sky fibre broadband and YouView.


FTSE 100 - Risers
Essar Energy (ESSR) 135.30p +6.54%
Man Group (EMG) 114.00p +6.44%
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) 449.70p +2.30%
Carnival (CCL) 1,949.00p +2.10%
Resolution Ltd. (RSL) 270.70p +1.92%
Compass Group (CPG) 618.00p +1.73%
Experian (EXPN) 890.50p +1.71%
Evraz (EVR) 414.40p +1.69%
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,148.00p +1.68%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,272.00p +1.35%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,373.00p -5.64%
Imperial Tobacco Group (IMT) 2,264.00p -4.07%
Weir Group (WEIR) 2,024.00p -3.62%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,056.00p -2.13%
Rolls-Royce Group (RR.) 748.50p -1.90%
GKN (GKN) 202.40p -1.89%
BT Group (BT.A) 202.20p -1.75%
Pearson (PSON) 1,235.00p -1.59%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 285.30p -1.52%
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 29.09p -1.51%

NR

Related share prices
BT Group (BT.A) share price
Man Group (EMG) share price
Tullow Oil (TLW) share price
Carnival (CCL) share price
Essar Energy (ESSR) share price