There has been no shortage of company announcements to keep investor occupied while they await the outcome of the keenly awaited vote in the Italian parliament this afternoon, which could determine whether Silvio Berlusconi continues his charmed life as Italian Prime Minister.

PUNTERS BACK THE BLACK HORSE

Shares in Lloyds Banking Group surged despite the firm reporting a £3.9bn loss for the first nine months of 2011.

Much of the loss - £3.2bn of it - was down to the bank setting money aside for the mis-selling of payment protection insurance, but its total income for the period also fell 15% to £15.3bn, due to a decline in levels of business.

Nevertheless, investors latched onto the positives amongst the gloom, sending Lloyds' share price up 8% in morning trading.

Bad loans were sliced from £2.8bn in the second quarter to £1.96bn in the third as the bank cut non-core assets to £151.4bn at the end of September, from £162bn at the end of June.

The bank's net interest margin - the difference between what it charges for loans and what it pays to borrow - was also better than expected at 210 basis points in the year to date.

Its guidance for the full year currently stands at 205 basis points; there are 100 basis points to a full percentage point.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, insurance behemoth Prudential is also on the march.

The firm said it had seen its highest ever third quarter of new business sales in Asia, pushing its shares up 2% in early trading.

Excluding India, third quarter sales were up 24% on the third quarter of 2010 to £78m, compared with growth of 17% in the first two quarters of the year. New business profits grew 20% to £704m.

HIGH STREET JINKS

Retail bellwether Marks & Spencer saw like-for-like (LFL) sales (excluding value added tax) in the 26 weeks to October 1st rise 0.5% from a year earlier, with food sales up 2.1% on a LFL basis but general merchandise sales down 1.3%. Underlying profit before tax slipped to £315.2m from £348.6m last year. The interim dividend has been maintained at 6.2p.

Associated British Foods, the foods group that also owns the Primark clothing chain, announced full-year revenue and pre-tax profits that were ahead of market expectations. Revenue was up 9% to £11.1bn, versus market expectations of £10.96m, while adjusted profits before tax edged up 1% to £835m, versus expectations of £802.2m.

Chocolatier Thorntons, whose shares have performed about as well as a chocolate tea-pot over the last year, is looking for a new finance director to replace Mark Robson, who will take up a position with a private equity company in March of next year.

ALSO PLAYING FOOTSIE

Mobile phone network colossus Vodafone saw profit before tax ease 2.8% to £6.64bn in the six months ended September 30th from £8.24bn the year before, on revenue that rose 4.1% to £23.5bn from £22.6bn last year.

Holiday Inns owner InterContinental Hotels is finding the market hard to please. Pre-tax profits came in at £194m in the three months to the end of September, up from £126m the previous year. This was at the top end of analysts expectations, but the shares were punished in early trading, as traders picked up on chief executive Richard Solomons's comments about continued uncertainty in the economic environment.

Property company Hammerson was happy to report that the occupancy level across its portfolio remains high, though it has dipped to 97.1% from the end-June figure of 97.2%.

Oil giant Cairn Energy saw its share price rise 4% after it reported encouraging results from its five well exploration drilling campaign offshore Greenland. The drilling results do not look as if the wells are blockbusters, but after a disappointing and expensive drilling campaign so far, a small success or two is most welcome.

An anti-depressant product made by Anglo-Swedish drugs titan AstraZeneca and US partner Targacept has failed to meet its initial target.

FTSE 100 - Risers
Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY) 29.90p +7.98%
Man Group (EMG) 146.90p +3.96%
Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,398.00p +3.33%
Prudential (PRU) 638.50p +3.32%
IMI (IMI) 830.00p +3.30%
Vodafone Group (VOD) 178.35p +3.18%
Tullow Oil (TLW) 1,463.00p +3.17%
Vedanta Resources (VED) 1,289.00p +3.04%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 959.00p +2.57%
Associated British Foods (ABF) 1,140.00p +2.52%

FTSE 100 - Fallers
AstraZeneca (AZN) 2,847.50p -4.01%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,062.00p -3.01%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 667.50p -1.69%
Schroders (Non-Voting) (SDRC) 1,192.00p -1.16%
United Utilities Group (UU.) 619.50p -0.72%
International Power (IPR) 333.00p -0.69%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 7,405.00p -0.67%
Schroders (SDR) 1,375.00p -0.36%
Intertek Group (ITRK) 1,911.00p -0.21%
Compass Group (CPG) 568.50p -0.18%

FTSE 250 - Risers
Supergroup (SGP) 730.00p +11.96%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 174.90p +9.38%
Lamprell (LAM) 253.50p +5.58%
Big Yellow Group (BYG) 269.50p +5.31%
3i Group (III) 205.20p +4.32%
Pace (PIC) 70.20p +4.23%
Grainger (GRI) 93.55p +3.83%
Barratt Developments (BDEV) 90.75p +3.71%
Mothercare (MTC) 160.00p +3.69%
AZ Electronic Materials SA (WI) (AZEM) 239.00p +3.69%

FTSE 250 - Fallers
Homeserve (HSV) 284.10p -4.38%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 500.50p -3.84%
Paragon Group Of Companies (PAG) 178.00p -2.36%
Millennium & Copthorne Hotels (MLC) 405.50p -1.55%
Michael Page International (MPI) 370.30p -1.38%
Bovis Homes Group (BVS) 459.00p -1.29%
Halfords Group (HFD) 336.20p -1.20%
Persimmon (PSN) 492.00p -0.87%
Daejan Holdings (DJAN) 2,743.00p -0.87%
Interserve (IRV) 322.80p -0.71%

--
jh

Related share prices
Associated British Foods (ABF) share price
AstraZeneca (AZN) share price
Marks & Spencer Group (MKS) share price
Prudential (PRU) share price
Vodafone Group (VOD) share price
Hammerson (HMSO) share price
Cairn Energy (CNE) share price
Thorntons (THT) share price
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) share price