Miners and industrial companies were among those leading the London market higher this morning, offsetting falls in financial stocks.
Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) gained more than 3% at 334.25p, while BHP Billiton was up 2% at £12.67.
Amec, the consultancy and engineering group that specialises in the energy industry, lifted more than 3% at 484.75p.
Rolls-Royce gained 4p to 328.25p after announcing a deal with Russian gas giant Gazprom to supply eight turbines for the new Nord Stream pipeline from Russia to Europe.
In the red column, HBOS slipped 2% or 1.3p to 69.3p following a report in the Financial Times that the bank's pension trustees are considering legal action to delay its merger with Lloyds TSB until it receives guarantees over the funding of the scheme.
Lloyds TSB also lost ground, down 2.2p at 125.8p.
The list of fallers on the FTSE 100 was dominated by financial stocks.
Insurers Prudential and Friends Provident both suffered, down 2% to 391p and 1.4% to 82.2p respectively.
Retailers showed some signs of being hit by continuing turbulence in the sector that has seen a wave of high-street companies go into administration.
Next dropped 3p to £10.96, while Home Retail, the owner of Argos and Homebase that was promoted to the FTSE 100 earlier in the month, lost 2p at 207.25p.
Marks & Spencer, which some analysts believe will issue a profit warning next week, held steady at 210p.
Overall the FTSE 100 is up 41.33 to 4360.23, building on yesterday's positive start to post-Christmas trading, when the blue-chip index added more than 100 points.
