London’s blue-chips posted solid gains as a move by the Bank of Japan for negative interest rates buoyed sentiment.
FTSE 100 was 57 points higher at 5,988 with early indications that Wall Street was also set to move briskly higher.
Sainsbury’s was as stand-out on the FTSE 100 on a report that it has not agreed a deal to buy Argos owner Home Retail and will drop its interest.
The supermarket has until 2 February to make an offer, but according to the FT it does not want to pay more than 150p per against the 170p demanded by Home Retail.
Homebase has already been sold by Home Retail to Aussie group Wesfarmers and some analyst suggest that shorn of that business even 150pis is on the rich side.
Sainsbury’s rose 3% to 244p while Home Retail (LON:HOME) dropped 4% to 136.8p.
Broadcaster Sky (LON:SKY) had a good day as underlying earnings (EBITDA) in the six months to the end of December rose 8% to £1.05bn while revenue rose 5% to £5.72bn.
James Murdoch, the younger son of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, is also to return as chairman.
Sky shares rose 20p to 1,061p.
Oil shares rallied strongly yesterday and there was some modest profit taking today, especially at Shell where talking is over and the reality of the merger with BG has arrived. Shell (LON:RDSB) eased 7p to 1,489p.
UBS has a price target of 1,800p and buy rating on the Anglo-Dutch giant.
It said after completion on 15 February there is likely to be a capital markets day 'launch' of new enlarged business early June.
“The quality of the asset base is clear. Shell now has the opportunity to fundamentally re-set strategy and the operating model of the firm,” said the Swiss bank.
Money broker Tullett Prebon (LON:TLPR) rose 7% to 338p on a bullish trading update. Recent market turmoil has sparked an uptick in oil and equity futures volumes.
Elsewhere, Learning Technologies (LON:LTG) stood out among the small caps as it unveiled almost US$30mln of new acquisitions for its e-learning business.
It is to acquire Rustici Software LLC, a software specialist, for US$26mln and it has also agreed to investUS$3mln to gain a 30% stake in a company called Watershed Systems.
Goldplat (LON:GDP) handily found 82,000 ounces of gold.
It wasn’t quite at the bottom of the garden, but in the slime under and around its tailing facility in South Africa.
The gold was expected but the uranium and silver was a bonus, said chief executive Gerard Kisbey-Green.
A fund raising knocked hydrogen fuel and storage group ITM Power (LON:ITM) 23% to 15p, while Proxama’s (LON:PROX) possible sale of its chip and pin tech business was not well received. The shares fell 22% to 1.3p despite an upbeat trading statement.