London's FTSE 100 rose again in early trades as miners continued their rally offsetting more losses for the oil majors on worries about crude prices.
The Footsie was up 46 at 8,314 helped also by a rally by Guinness and Johnnie Walker owner Diageo.
The spirits group said trading was tough, especially in the US but the tone was not as downbeat as brokers had been predicting sending its shares up 3%.
Engineer Halma kept its guidance unchanged even though it said the pound’s recent surge is causing some problems. Currencies aside, revenue growth was good in the first half, it added.
Pub owner Mitchells & Butlers reported 5.2% growth in the year just ended and decent momentum going into the current twelve months.
Embattled water utility Pennon meanwhile has set aside £16 million for the pollution outbreak at Brixham in Devon adding, perhaps not surprisingly, lower customer demand was affecting revenues.