London's leading shares remained firm at midday, although below their best levels, as disappointing guidance from Nokia set a more cautious tone amongst TMT stocks, knocking the general market off its early strong peak, dealers said.
At 12.05 p.m., the FTSE 100 index was up 82.8 points at 4,273.4, off an early morning high of 4,301.2. The broader FTSE indices were also firm.
Volumes remained high, with 1.25 billion shares changing hands in 74,507 deals.
The banking sector was once again the focus of bargain hunters' attention after the US' two largest banks, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase & Co reported rises in second-quarter net earnings.
Northern Rock posted a 16.3 per cent rise in first-half pretax profit to £152.6 million but issued a warning simultaneously that the housing market will slow.
The results were at the upper end of analysts' expectations which had ranged from £145-£153.4 million - boosting its shares by 17-1/2 pence to 647-1/2.
Allied Irish Banks also attracted some attention after announcing last night that Ms Susan Keating, the president and CEO of its US division Allfirst is finally to step down. AIB shares rose €0.37 to €13.
PA