Energy groups are leading the FTSE 100 risers this morning as oil remains close to last week's record high of over $139 a barrel.
Royal Dutch Shell A shares are up 2% to £21.41p in late morning trading and BP is 2% higher at 592.75p.
BG Group, which made a £6bn approach to buy an Australian gas company last month, has added around 1.5% at £12.74p
Metals and mining company, Vedanta Resources, is up 2% to £23.05p.
British Airways is one of the big casualties of the climbing oil price, down around 3% at 226p.
Other fallers include Enterprise Inns, whose shares went ex-dividend last week, down around 3% to 428p, and the London Stock Exchange - down around 3% at 889p on concerns that turmoil in financial markets will reduce trading volumes.
Bank stocks are weak again with lingering worries surrounding the sector after a series of rights issues and credit crunch-related write downs. Barclays is leading the FTSE 100 fallers, down around 3.5% to 326.5p, while Lloyds TSB is down 3% at 356p.
The FTSE 100 rose slightly earlier this morning before falling back. At midday it was around 5 points higher at 5911.5
