Leading shares are mixed, with losses on defensive stalwarts such as the utilities offsetting gains in the mining sector.
Miners and are posting double-digit gains, while , , and are not far behind.
Water group is down again after yesterday's downgrade by Merrill Lynch, while other defensive stocks such as , , and are also big fallers.
is a top performer after shareholders overwhelmingly approved taking the £20bn on offer from the government at yesterday's meeting. and are also up.
Banks have also been boosted by an approach to . JC Flowers is the name being mentioned as part of a consortium looking to buy a stake into the Irish bank.
, meanwhile, is boosted by the grudging support of 5% stakeholder for the bank's fund raising plans.
Consumer electronics retailer claws back some of its recent heavy losses ahead of results next week which are expected to be horrific. The stock rises sharply after Credit Suisse raised its rating from "under perform" to "outperform", though the share price target has been reduced from 34p to 25p.
said its Australian subsidiary has been awarded a contract worth A$160mm (£68m) for the supply of countermeasures and pyrotechnics to Australia.
Elsewhere, metal processor is to return 40p cash to its shareholders.
Irish drug supplier reported a 13% jump in full year pre-tax profit but said it is facing a more difficult economic environment.
Theme park queue systems specialist has upped its forecast for profits this year thanks to a boost from the strength of the US dollar. Lo-Q, which supplies systems to theme park operator Six Flags in the US now expects results for 2008 "will be significantly ahead of market expectations, with profit before tax expected to be no less than £1.85m".
London based brewer and pubs group has nudged the interim dividend up despite a small dip in pre-tax profits. Profit before tax excluding exceptional items eased to £12m in the 26 weeks to 27 September from £12.1m in the corresponding period of last year.
West Coast Capital, the vehicle of Scottish entrepreneur Tom Hunter, has dropped its plans to bid for , the Jersey-based home shopping group. Flying Brands said.
Power supplier to the electronics industry said trading since the half year has been satisfactory and it expects to meet market forecasts for the year ending 31 December. "Despite the economic outlook, I am happy to be able to announce that we remain on track for the full year," said chief executive Duncan Penny.
IT services group lifted interim profits by 74% to £808,000 adding contractual revenues continue to increase.
Worsted fabric and garment producer said it is likely to be no better than breakeven for the full year and does not expect any significant recovery in its financial performance during 2009.
