London shares touch higher midafternoon as utilities counter jittery Wall St.

(From AFX Europe (Focus))

LONDON (AFX) - Leading shares rebounded slightly in volatile midafternoon deals as strength in heavyweight utilities helped to counter yet another nervous start to the day on Wall Street, dealers said.

By 3.17 pm, the FTSE 100 index was 4.5 points higher at 6,120.5, well below its early high of 6,164.4 but still off midday lows.

The broader indices were also under pressure, while volume was once again strong with 2.5 bln shares changing hands in 478,926 deals.

Meanwhile, on Wall Street, stocks opened the final session of a tumultuous week slightly lower after the yen continued to rally against the dollar and a weaker-than-expected profit report from Dell weighed on technology stocks.

Fears over the rising yen have dominated New York for much of the week after the global sell-off sent the Dow industrials down 416 points on Tuesday and rattled investor confidence over the state of the US economy.

Within the first 30 minutes of trade, the DJIA was 13.70 points …