At 8:30am, the FTSE100 was up 31.08 points at 5,355.04 with the FTSE250 ahead 29.51 points at 9,210.69 and the FTSE Smallcaps 1.57 points higher at 2,798.28.

US & ASIA

In the US last night, the Dow lost 17 points at 10,434, the Nasdaq Composite fell 7 points at 2,169 and the S&P500 fell a point to 1,106.

In Asia today, the Nikkei was up 40.06 points at 9,441.64, while the Hang Seng was recently up 188.66 points at 22,611.8.

LONDON MARKETS

UK GDP, Balance of Payments and Government Spending data is due for release at 9:30am, along with the Producer Price Index.

London markets opened in good spirits today, shrugging off a negative close on Wall Street overnight, with rising metals prices lighting a fresh fire under mining stocks and financial issues in demand ahead of a court ruling on bank charges.

Randgold Resources led the miners higher as gold settled around $1,178 an ounce, the shares adding 150p at 5,190p.