Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS.L) was the strongest riser in early trading (at 0855), with share price up 6.5 per cent to 23.3p.

The bank was closely followed by engineer IMI (IMI.L), which today announced its first half results.

IMI saw its share price rise by 5.8 per cent to 531p, after reporting an 8 per cent year-on-year rise in pre-tax profits.

Pre-tax profits rose from £133.5 million during the first six months of 2010, to £144.3 million for the first half of 2011.

Norman Askew, chairman of IMI said, although macroeconomic indicators had weakened recently, it had not seen a change in underlying order trends.

He added, 'The company retains a full array of operational measures to quickly reduce cost and underpin operating margins in the event that demand does weaken appreciably.

'However, based on current order trends, we still expect to make further good progress in the second half of this year.'

The company also increased its interim dividend by 22 per cent to 11p.

Barclays (BARC.L) saw its share price rise by 5.1 per cent to 157.25p, while copper miner Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) climbed 4.8 per cent higher to 993p.

Guinness brewer Diageo (DGE.L) also saw its share price rise in early trading, up 4.3 per cent to 1,166p, after reporting a 5 per cent rise in operating profits in its preliminary results to £2.6 billion.

The biggest faller was Shire (SHP.L), which dropped 3.1 per cent to 1,950p in early trading (at 0856).

Mexican silver miner Fresnillo (FRES.L) fell 1.8 per cent to 1,838p, as fears over volatility in precious metals prices.

Listed hedge fund Man Group (EMG.L) dropped 1.7 per cent to 212.5p, after making gains during the previous session, while Old Mutual (OML.L) fell 1.6 per cent to 112.5p and insurer Admiral Group (ADM.L) shed 1.5 per cent, down to 1,333p.

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