Financial News

LONDON (ShareCast) - 1140: Footsie (news) is managing to keep its head above water, but only just, as weak mining stocks act as a millstone round its neck. Part-nationalised banks Lloyds and RBS (LSE: RBS.L - news) are wanted, while food and household goods group Unilever (LSE: ULVR.L - news) is higher after being tipped in the Daily Telegraph today. FTSE 100 is up 13 at 4,339.

1045: A volatile morning for Footsie but the benchmark index is posting slight gains helped by Tesco (LSE: TSCO.L - news) . BT Group (LSE: BT-A.L - news) is the main riser after broker Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS - news) upgraded the stock to "overweight" and increased its price target. Outsourcing firm Serco is also better after UBS (Virt-X: UBSN.VX - news) raised it to "buy" from "neutral". FTSE 100 up 20 points to 4347.

0920: Footsie is still slightly higher with Britain's leading supermarket chains Tesco and Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) among the main blue chip risers after UK like-for-like sales growth at Tesco came in at the top end of expectations. FTSE is up 4 at 4,330.

0830: Footsie has made modest progress in the first half an hour. Property groups are in demand led by Hammerson (LSE: HMSO.L - news) and British Land (LSE: BLND.L - news) . Banks are also going well with Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds both ahead. Oil groups are weak on the dip in the crude price. FTSE 100 up 15 at 4,342.