Miners and energy companies were among the leading risers, as the FTSE 100 struggled for direction in early trading.
Xstrata added 16p to 1214.5p and Randgold Resources rose 85p to £65.75, boosted by continuing strength in commodity prices, particularly gold. The precious metal continues to hover around its record highs, especially after the indications this week from the US Federal Reserve that further quantitative easing is a possibility, which has led to a weakening of the dollar.
But after an early move into positive territory the FTSE 100 has dipped 6.71 points to 5545.20, following a slight decline on Wall Street overnight. There is no guidance from the Nikkei, closed for a public holiday. Later come weekly US jobless claims, which always have the potential to upset the applecart.
Among the fallers, banks continued to be unsettled by worries about the US and global economic recovery following the Fed's QE comments. Barclays has fallen 2.85p to 303.85p while Lloyds Banking Group has lost 1.52p to 74.33p.
Shire has slipped 17p at £14.56 after Exane BNP Paribas cut its rating on the pharmaceutical group from neutral to underperform. But Exane was more positive on GlaxoSmithKline, which benefited with an 8.5p rise to 1280.5p.
Power companies were in demand with National Grid up 4p to 551p and International Power 1.6p better at 386.3p.
Among the mid caps Shanks, the waste management group, edged 1.1p lower to 109.1p after yesterday's excitement over a possible takeover by private equity group Carlyle.
