Among the market uncertainty, a bit of bid speculation. Medical equipment group Smith & Nephew is heading higher on revived talk that US rival Zimmer might be interested in the business.
This certainly makes more sense now that the dollar has strengthened against the pound, and the tale was enough to push S&N 19.5p to 638p.
Elsewhere Inmarsat - where US hedge fund Harbinger has said it will bid once it gets regulatory approval, likely to be a lengthy process - climbed 12.5p to 500.5p. The company announced the successful launch of the third Inmarsat-4 satellite.
Overall, financial worries are still dragging the market lower, with the FTSE 100 now 87. points lower at 5363.0.
