Footsie edges up 13 points
The FTSE-100 Index is up 13.4 points at 5227.4 with help from Gallaher and Friends Provident.
Strong figures from the two blue-chips have steadied the index, while banking and telecoms stocks have added to the push into positive territory.
Gallaher jumped 3% - 12¾p to 501p - as investors welcomed full-year figures from the Silk Cut to Benson & Hedges group, showing an 11% increase in underlying profits.
Friends Provident is up 12¼p to 187½p, after reporting a jump in second-half profits.
FTSE 250 stock Corus, due to regain its place in the FTSE 100 following the latest quarterly reshuffle of the index, is up 1½p at 81½p.
Abbey National has climbed 2%, or 21½p to 997½p, HSBC has risen 9p to 826½p, Barclays has edged ahead 6p to £21.90 and HBOS was a penny higher at 766p.
Telecoms are also on the way up with Vodafone up 2p at 137¾p, mmO2 up 1p at 66p and BT Group rising 3¾p to 273¾p.
It was not such a good day for tech stocks, however, with Sage down 2¼p at 215¼p and Logica off 8½p at 441½p.
Baltimore Technology has slumped 21% - 2¾p to 10½p - as concern mounts about its finances. Its cash balances at the end of last year slumped to £21.2m (€34.6m) from £107.8m (€176m) a year earlier.
