Banks are among the gainers as the market edges higher, helped by analyst comments and a touch of speculation.
Financial shares are also underpinned by the news that Japan is providing $60bn in new loans to the IMF.
Barclays is the biggest riser, up 7.8p to 218.6p after Bank of America/Merrill Lynch said it may have turned the corner, with its first quarter results bringing investors' attention back to the fundamentals after recent worries about the effect of the eurozone crisis.
Royal Bank of Scotland is up 0.45p to 24.72p while Lloyds Banking Group has added 0.36p to 30.07p.
Standard Chartered has climbed 26.5p to 1525.5p after traders said Singapore fund Temasek's purchase of 1% of Chinese lender ICBC could put a question mark over its 10% stake in Standard.
With a mixed bond auction from Spain, the FTSE 100 is currently up 35.36 points at 5701.64.
