The UK’s blue chip stocks were higher at lunch ahead of the opening of Wall Street.
European bourses were lower overall with both the French CAC 40 and the German DAX making 0.2% losses as Greek sentiment continued to weigh on investors.
There was better news in the UK however as the FTSE 100 made an 11 point gain to 7,006.
All eyes will be on the US however, as the minutes of last month’s Federal Reserve meeting are likely to be scrutinised, with investors looking for any indication of when an interest rate hike might take place.
On the FTSE 100, Vodafone (LON:VOD) led the risers on speculation that the company could merge with private company Liberty Global after it called Vodafone a 'great fit'.
The mobile giant fell yesterday despite announcing the first rise in quarterly sales in almost three years. Shares recovered today however with a gain of 4.2% to 236p.
Similarly, high-street bellwether Marks & Spencer (LON:MKS) was on the rise as it announced a share buyback and a hike in its dividend. Shares climbed 1.2% to 592p.
On the other side of the fence was high-end fashion label Burberry (LON:BRBY).
The company had to lower its full-year forecast after revealing profits for the year to 31 March were lower than expected. Shares eased more than 5% to 1,710p.
Financial service provider Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL.) also struggled after it said profits were 0.2% lower than in the four months to 30 April despite record net inflows of £2.75bn.
The company also blasted the Financial Services Compensation Scheme which has more than doubled its bill in the past year. Shares eased 3% to 1,241p.
In broker news, telecom provider Talktalk (LON:TALK) has caught the eye of Citigroup which has upgraded I to a ‘buy’ with a target price of 475p. Shares in Talktalk rose 1.8% to 399p.
In other news, Intermediate Capital (LON:ICP) was a big gainer on the FTSE 250 as it said assets under management rose to a record high of €18.0bn by the end of March. Shares climbed 4% to 580p.
Conversely, Invesco has dumped 15mln shares in the US-focused science company Allied Minds (LON:ALM). Shares dropped 6.4% to 608p.
Shares in online estate agent Zoopla (LON:ZPLA) took a hit despite record revenues in the first half of the year.
The company said it had experienced UK Agency membership slide in the period due to increased competition, notably from the launch of Agents' Mutual website OnTheMarket.com. Shares fell 2.6% to 224p.
To the world of small caps and e-commerce specialist cloudBuy (LON:CBUY) is to power a new online marketplace for people to access social care. Shares leapt more than 6% to 25p.
Meanwhile, proximity market expert Proxama (LON:PROX) announced its third contract this week, this time with the Navy Federal Credit Union.
The news comes on the same day as founder Neil Garner is to step down after another year of losses. Shares jumped 11% to 2.2p.
Elsewhere, Ghana-focussed energy company Clontarf Energy (LON:CLON) narrowed its losses but blamed a lack of liquidity in AIM-listed oil companies for a lack of available funding. Shares plummeted 20% to 0.6p.