With the price of crude hitting new peaks almost daily, it is no surprise that oil companies are at the forefront of a recovery in the market.
Royal Dutch Shell A shares are the biggest riser in the leading index at the moment, up 94p to £22.35, followed closely by BG, 58p better at £13.80 and Cairn Energy, 150p higher at £36.69.
Miners are on the way back up as well, after yesterday's sell off. Kazakhmys added 41p to £18.33, while Vedanta Resources rose 51p to £26.88 as UBS raised its price target price on the shares from £26 to £31.
If not for the commodity companies, the FTSE 100 would be in the red but as it is, the index is 31.9 points higher at 6223.5.
Among the mid-caps, oil firms were also in demand. Premier Oil is 66p ahead at £18.08 after Deutsche Bank lifted its target price from £18.80 to £20.70 on a positive outlook for its Asian operations.
Deutsche said: "Poised at the start of the most material exploration drilling programme in its history, Premier's return to Asia combines significant oil volume upside and transformational value. This activity is focused in a region where the company has delivered its highest exploration success rates."
Banks are generally weaker, on continuing concerns about that old favourite, the extent of the credit crunch. Bradford & Bingley is an exception, up 3.25p to 114p on vague talk of a possible bid from Barclays, down 9p at 396.5p. It is worth remembering that yesterday Barclays was said to be interested in any one of Lehman Brothers, UBS and Alliance & Leicester.
Yell continued its decline, after the directories group halved its dividend yesterday. The shares are now 13p lower at 141p. Credit Suisse cut its target price to 140p from 275p, saying: "We remain cautious on Yell due to its relatively high financial leverage; higher than average forecasting risk following what is now four successive warnings over 12 months, exacerbated by the weakening macroeconomic environment; and high structural risk (Yell generates only 11% of its revenues online)."
Housebuilder Taylor Wimpey fell 13p to 108.5p, but this was mostly accounted for by the shares going ex-dividend.
