The Footsie finished higher on Tuesday, close to the 5,700 level, but gains were steadily trimmed since the mid-morning. Providing a drag on the blue chip index in afternoon trading was oil and gas giant Essar Energy, which plunged nearly 30% after a negative tax ruling in India.

MACRO DATA PROVIDES A BOOST

Lifting the mood early on was fourth quarter gross domestic product (GDP) data from China which eased fears of a hard landing in the world's second largest economy. GDP expanded by 8.9% year-on-year, less than the 9.1% rise seen in the third quarter but well ahead of the 8.6% forecast. Meanwhile, the German ZEW economic sentiment index jumped strongly to -21.6 in January, from -53.8 the month before, and well above market forecasts of -49.8.

Investors seem to have shrugged off last night's downgrade of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) by Standard & Poor's from 'AAA' to 'AA+'.

In domestic news, the UK consumer price index (CPI) for the month of December rose 0.4% on the month (4.2% on the year), according to data just released by the Office for National Statistics, just as expected.

Market analyst Colin Ciesynski from CMC Markets said: "With attitudes toward the global economy improving and meltdown fears getting shoved to the back burner, it appears that we may see a number of US traders jumping back on the bandwagon today now that their long weekend is over."

ESSAR PLUMMETS IN LATE TRADING

Essar Energy plummeted late on after its Indian oil division was told that it is no longer eligible to benefit from a deferred tax payment scheme. Shares fell as low as 107.5p, down from yesterday's close of 172.4p, after the Indian Supreme Court ruled against the Gujarat High Court in letting Essar Oil pay sales tax in deferred instalments.

"The company has availed of approximately INR 63 billion (approximately US$1.235 billion) of Sales Tax benefit which was to be paid in deferred instalments," Essar Energy revealed today. Today's court ruling means that the company will not be able to partake in this scheme going forward. Shares finished the day down 26.33% at the 127p level.

Miners were leading the risers today, with Polymetal International, Rio Tinto, Fresnillo and Kazakhyms among the best performers. Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto said today that fourth quarter production continued to bounce back after output was hit by severe weather conditions in the first half of the year. Fourth quarter iron ore production hit a new quarterly high of 65m tonnes.

Part-nationalised lender Royal Bank of Scotland was in demand after striking a deal with a Japanese bank to sell its aircraft leasing division for $7.3bn (£4.7bn). The bank said the sale of RBS Aviation Capital to Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation would strengthen its Tier 1 capital position and the proceeds would be used to reduce wholesale funding requirements and fund ongoing lending.

Life assurance group Resolution wasn't far behind after UBS upgraded the stock from neutral to buy, saying "Valuation multiples are not generally demanding and the [UK life and non-life insurance] sector offers an attractive alternative to the banks with limited exposure to the euro area."

Iconic British luxury brand Burberry was out of favour after seeing underlying revenue growth slow down from 30% in the first half to 21% in the third quarter.

MID-CAP MOVERS: AFREN JUMPS ON OIL DISCOVERY

Africa focused oil exploration group Afren has this morning announced a significant new off-shore oil find just 2 kilometres east of its main site in Nigeria, in the Okoro field. The company has described the tertiary reservoir sands encountered as "excellent" and as being of a quality equivalent to those under development at its main Okoro field.

Dixons Retail was next in line after the electricals retailer enjoyed a 23% jump in sales in the period from 4th to 14th January, while travel group TUI Travel continued to make gains, a day after UBS added the firm to its 'M&A Watch List'. UBS said on Monday that it expects the stock to "receive support from a potential takeover by TUI AG", the firm's German parent company.


Market Movers
techMARK 1,944.89 +0.80%
FTSE 100 5,693.95 +0.65%
FTSE 250 10,592.21 +1.08%

FTSE 100 - Risers
Polymetal International (POLY) 1,129.00p +3.48%
Rio Tinto (RIO) 3,694.00p +2.93%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,255.00p +2.87%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,753.00p +2.69%
Smiths Group (SMIN) 960.00p +2.40%
Glencore International (GLEN) 405.45p +2.18%
British Land Co (BLND) 477.00p +2.14%
CRH (CRH) 1,268.00p +2.01%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,088.00p +1.97%
Kingfisher (KGF) 251.30p +1.95%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
Essar Energy (ESSR) 127.00p -26.33%
Man Group (EMG) 107.10p -2.90%
Admiral Group (ADM) 862.00p -1.82%
ICAP (IAP) 325.60p -1.75%
Capita (CPI) 637.00p -1.62%
SABMiller (SAB) 2,304.00p -0.99%
BT Group (BT.A) 205.80p -0.87%
Xstrata (XTA) 1,064.00p -0.84%
Petrofac Ltd. (PFC) 1,535.00p -0.84%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 285.90p -0.80%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Afren (AFR) 130.50p +13.48%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 10.94p +10.62%
Supergroup (SGP) 640.00p +7.93%
Misys (MSY) 283.00p +6.51%
AZ Electronic Materials SA (DI) (AZEM) 281.60p +6.30%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 325.00p +5.90%
Inchcape (INCH) 324.20p +5.81%
Anglo Pacific Group (APF) 286.00p +5.22%
TUI Travel (TT.) 173.10p +4.97%
International Personal Finance (IPF) 155.20p +4.51%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
TalkTalk Telecom Group (TALK) 126.80p -4.66%
Kenmare Resources (KMR) 46.96p -4.40%
Ashtead Group (AHT) 212.90p -3.71%
Rightmove (RMV) 1,300.00p -3.27%
Soco International (SIA) 285.00p -2.76%
Allied Gold Mining (ALD) 156.80p -2.55%
FirstGroup (FGP) 308.60p -2.31%
PZ Cussons (PZC) 312.60p -2.31%
Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 44.00p -2.22%
Lamprell (LAM) 288.80p -1.77%

FTSE TechMARK - Risers
Asterand (ATD) 4.38p +16.67%
Vectura Group (VEC) 58.00p +6.42%
Ceva Inc. (CVA) 1,750.00p +6.06%
Promethean World (PRW) 58.25p +4.95%
CML Microsystems (CML) 224.00p +4.67%
Puricore (PURI) 36.00p +4.35%
BATM Advanced Communications Ltd. (BVC) 15.00p +4.35%
Filtronic (FTC) 25.00p +4.17%
NCC Group (NCC) 895.00p +4.07%
Antisoma (ASM) 1.90p +3.83%

FTSE TechMARK - Fallers
Emblaze Ltd. (BLZ) 43.00p -10.42%
Pace (PIC) 86.25p -7.01%
Ark Therapeutics Group (AKT) 3.40p -6.21%
AEA Technology Group (AAT) 0.41p -4.65%
Vislink (VLK) 22.12p -2.21%
Psion (PON) 45.00p -2.17%
Phoenix IT Group (PNX) 164.00p -1.20%
RM (RM.) 64.50p -1.15%
Xaar (XAR) 251.00p -0.59%
Timeweave (TMW) 23.00p -0.54%

Related share prices
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) share price
Rio Tinto (RIO) share price
TUI Travel (TT.) share price
Burberry Group (BRBY) share price
Kazakhmys (KAZ) share price
Afren (AFR) share price
Fresnillo (FRES) share price
Resolution Ltd. (RSL) share price
Essar Energy (ESSR) share price
Dixons Retail (DXNS) share price
Polymetal International (POLY) share price