An opening gain on Wall Street has helped lift the UK market from its early falls.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up around 90 points after US Federal Reserve member James Bullard made upbeat comments about the US economy, and suggested the current level of oil prices would not prove to be a drag on recovery. At the same time a strong Chicago purchasing managers survey helped sentiment, as did the comments from veteran investor Warren Buffett that he was on the lookout for large acquisitions, suggesting he thought current valuations were cheap.
So despite the worries about turmoil in the middle east and north Africa, the FTSE 100 is now 18.07 points higher at 6019.27. Associated British Foods, down 60.5p at 966.5p, and HSBC, 36.5p lower at 674.6p, are still the two biggest fallers following their figures. HSBC's decline alone had a 25 point negative influence on the leading index.
