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(From FT Investor (Stories))
LONDON (FT.com) - London's blue-chip index was higher on Tuesday, buoyed by merger talk and upbeat sales figures from high street retailer Marks and Spencer, but had pulled back from the day's best levels in late morning trade.
The rise started in financial stocks but telecoms took up the reins as the leading sector after banking gains faded in late morning trade. Gainers outnumbered decliners by more than two-to-one on the FTSE 100, although volumes were unremarkable at 506m shares in FTSE stocks by 0945 GMT.
The FTSE 100 traded 0.8 per cent higher at 3,809.9 and the FTSE Techmark gained 1.1 per cent to trade at 616.9. See European markets report
The bounce was a welcome respite from recent selling pressure, but analysts remained downbeat about the market's prospects.
"There's a plethora of reasons to remain very much on the defensive in these markets, whether we look at P/E ratios still above historical norms, earnings downgrades, no capital expenditure pick-up, (or) global economic weaknesses," said Steve Hatton, strategist with spread-betting firm Deal4Free.com.
M&S sales surge