London shares were on the front foot on Tuesday amid optimism about a potential breakthrough in talks over Greece.
The FTSE 100 opened with a slight dip then suddenly recovered 47 points to 6161. Small-cap indices were also up, with the AIM 100 Index gaining six points to 3392 and the AIM All-Share advancing a point to 724.5.
Analysts said there was tentative hope in the air after the Eurogroup held its first serious discussion about Greek debt relief.
Connor Campbell at Spreadex said: "Now all that has to be done is for the country to outline a post-fiscal target failure contingency plan and implement some more unpopular reforms in the next fortnight, before the finance ministers meet once again on May 24. Easy!"
Miners were in mixed form after Monday's falls caused by disappointing Chinese trade data. Anglo American PLC (LON:AAL) was 0.6% off at 556.2p, Rio Tinto PLC (LON:RIO) fell 4p to 1960.5p, but BHP Billiton PLC (LON:BLT) put on 2.3p to 795.6p.
In the small-cap arena, Herencia Resources PLC (LON:HER) more than doubled to 0.0425p as the company agreed to sell its 70% stake in the Paguanta zinc, silver and lead scheme in northern Chile to Golden Rim Resources for up to US$2.3mln.
Cluff Natural Resources PLC (LON:CLNR) ticked up 4.3% to 1.22p on news that the southern North Sea-focused investor had bought Verus Petroleum's stake in three traditional oil and gas licences in the Central North Sea and the Moray Firth, which are run by The Parkmead Group (LON:PMG).
At the other end of the scale, Aureus Mining (LON:AUE) tumbled 40% to 3.875p as the TSX and AIM-listed West African gold producer temporarily suspended operations at its New Liberty gold mine in Liberia due to technical problems.
Back in the top-flight, the six months to the end of March is traditionally a fallow period for budget airline easyJet PLC (LON:EZJ). Profit before tax on a constant currency basis was £5mln, down from £7mln in the same period last year. Using actual exchange rates, the company fell into the red, as expected, with a loss before tax of £24mln. Revenue edged up to £1,771mln from £1,767mln.
Capita PLC (LON:CPI): To date in 2016, Capita has secured contracts with an aggregate value of £458mln. That's up from £251mln at the end of February. The outsourcing giant said it had made a solid start to 2016.
“The combination of increased organic growth across our divisional businesses and the steady conversion of our bid pipeline provides us with greater visibility and confidence of achieving our target organic revenue growth of at least 4% this year, and we are on track to meet consensus expectations for 2016,” the company said.
Preview at 07.05
Despite mixed signals from overseas markets overnight and this morning, UK shares are set to open on the front foot.
Spread betting quotes point to the FTSE 100 opening its account at around 6,140 after closing last night at 6,115.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average retreated 35 points to 17,706 but the broader-based S&P 500 advanced a couple of points to 2,059 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 14 points at 4,750.
Despite mixed signals from overseas markets overnight and this morning, UK shares are set to open on the front foot.
Spread betting quotes point to the FTSE 100 opening its account at around 6,140 after closing last night at 6,115.
In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average retreated 35 points to 17,706 but the broader-based S&P 500 advanced a couple of points to 2,059 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 14 points at 4,750.
Heading towards the close in Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Japan was 340 points higher at 16,56 while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was down 33 at 20,122.
Headlines
Deal to increase oil prices may be dead in the water: Hopes of a meaningful deal to boost oil prices were evaporating, after Saudi Arabia’s appointment of a new oil minister consolidated the grip of a powerful reformist prince who has said that he does not care about the price of crude.
Housing bubble ‘has burst’ after sellers slash asking prices by average of £25,265: The housing bubble has burst, analysts have said, after sellers started slashing money off their asking prices and accepting offers up to 10% less than the property was listed.
Tata Steel says seven firms in frame to bid for rest of UK operations: Seven firms are weighing up bids for Tata Steel’s entire UK business, the company has revealed, raising hopes of a rescue deal that could save up to 12,000 jobs.