Leading shares have managed to add to yesterday's gains, thanks mainly to financial and mining shares. By the close the FTSE 100 had added 86 points to 5776.4, making a two day rise of around 150 points.
The mining sector was lit up by the - admittedly early stage - bid approach from ENRC for fellow Kazakh group Kazakhmys, up 245p to £17.80. ENRC - which has just gained entry to the 100 index - slipped 31p to 949p.
Standard Life - up 28.25p to 247p - boosted the insurers with better than expected results, while Prudential added 19.5p to 659p on vague bid talk.
Banks benefited from the actions of the US Federal Reserve and its compatriots to improve market liquidity. Barclays climbed 23.75p to 460.75p, while Lloyds TSB added 10.75p to 444p. HBOS looked like it was underperforming, down 11.5p to 578p, but this was due to its shares going ex-dividend.
And apparently there was a budget, although you'd be hard pushed to notice from the market's - lack of - reaction to the event.
