A bit of bid excitement is helping keep the market in positive territory, with the FTSE 100 edging closer towards its high for the year.
The leading index is now up 4.07 points at 5864.82, around 10 points of its closing high of 5875 reached in November. BP is the biggest riser, up 9.3p to 467.65p, after it sold oil and gas assets in Pakistan for $775m to Hong Kong listed United Energy Group. The price is higher than analysts expected, and brings the amount the company has raised in recent months to help pay for the Gulf of Mexico disaster to around £22bn. There was also some vague takeover speculation surrounding the company, with Royal Dutch Shell rather than the previous favourite Exxon Mobil being the name mentioned.
Scottish and Southern Energy was also up on rumoured interest from Cheung Kong Infrastructure, possibly in tandem with EDF. Its shares have added 11p to £11.47.
Meanwhile traders are awaiting the latest US Federal Reserve meeting this evening, as well as US retail sales figures this afternoon. Joshua Raymond, market strategist at City Index, said:
We could see some added volatility in the early part of the afternoon's session when US retail sales for November are announced. The market is expecting sales to slow from October's surprising surge of 1.2% to 0.6% last month. Were we to see a similar outperforming tone it could provide the markets with an added sense of confidence as we head into the Christmas period.
