Leading shares have stabilised somewhat thanks to a steady start on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial average is down just 6 points or so at the moment, with Apple's long awaited announcement of a renewed dividend payout and a cautiously optimistic US housebuilding report both helping. The NAHB housing index was steady at 28 in March, well above the depressed levels seen last year.
So after its earlier falls, the FTSE 100 is down just 4.52 points at 5961.06.
Among the decliners, National Grid is down 11.5p at 632.5p after analysts at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch cut their recommendation from buy to neutral in a downbeat note on European utilities. The bank said the continuing regulatory review, while encouraging for the company so far, will bring uncertainty until the final outcome in December.
The market's revival comes as banking and mining shares both recovered from earlier declines, with Royal Bank of Scotland now up 0.85p at 28.99p.
