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.

Platinum miner Lonmin gained 42p at 1,799p, helped by Citigroup raising its target for the stock from 2,060p to 2,100p, while retaining its buy stance.

Anglo American advanced 62p at 2,679p, Rio Tinto added 16.5p at 3,188.5p and BHP Billiton rose 41p at 1,898.5p.

Oil majors also progressed as crude traded above $76 a barrel, with BP ahead 3p at 590p, Shell up 8p at 1,798p and BG Group 8p better at 1,142p.

Amongst the financials, Lloyds continued to bask in the glory of its record rights issue, up a further 1.43p at 95.24p, while Royal Bank of Scotland ticked up 0.29p at 36.6p, HSBC added 3.1p at 740.1p and Barclays gained 2.7p at 316.7p.

Hedge fund mananger Man Group was a rare casualty amongst financial stocks, down 10.8p at 336.7p.

The top blue chip of the morning was global caterer Compass Group, up 15.9p at 417.9p, after reporting sharply higher profits for the year, boosted by forex gains.

On the downside with blue chips, platinum refiner Johnson Matthey fell to the foot of the table, down 47p at 1,544p, on reporting a fall in earnings as the car industry slowdown hit demand for catalytic converters.

United Utilities was under pressure, after reports that half-year revenues edged up and it was increasing its interim dividend 5% were accompanied by a cautious outlook. The shares slipped 9.4p at 476.6p.

London Stock Exchange was another notable casualty, down 12p at 835p, after revealing falling revenues and tough competition.

Story provided by Business Financial Newswire