The so-called triple witching when options, index futures and index future options all expire has given the market a lift this morning.
Around 40 points higher before the expiry, the FTSE 100 index has now climbed 78.21 points to 4359.07. Manoj Ladwa, senior trader at ETX Capital, said:
"The cash market spiked higher and was pushed to the 4350 level where a lot of the open contracts where.
"But the bulk were at 4400 so traders had a vested interest in pushing it to that level. And it didn't have the legs to get there, so it's possible it could fall back again later in the day."
The US triple witching takes place this afternoon, so we could see more volatility then.
Despite the rival attractions of Royal Ascot in the sunshine, a number of companies have been lifted by broker recommendations. Insurer Aviva - which fell 3% yesterday on news of the departure of its finance director Philip Scott - has recovered 20.25p to 338.5p, a 6.3% gain, after Deutsche Bank raised its price target from 350p to 385p.
Cruise group Carnival climbed 93p to £16.64p as both Evolution Securities and Numis became more positive in the wake of this week's second quarter figures, with the latter lifting its target from £16.27 to £17.48.
