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According to Reuters, the leading index on the British stock exchange improved due to a recovery among the banks because of discussions on the market about a rescue package for Ireland's debt problem.
Shortly before midday, the FTSE 100 was down by 7.28 points at 5,807.95, improving on previous losses in the session that meant it was at 5,711.73.
Yusuf Heusen, senior sales trader at IG Index, said the speculation might be "complete puff and nonsense", but he pointed out that the market seems to like it judging by today's results.
There were gains for Lloyds and Standard Chartered by 0.7 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively, but one of the biggest increases was for the Royal Bank of Scotland, which added 2.7 per cent.
This comes after the FTSE 100 moved down by 0.3 per cent on Wednesday morning due to a retreat in commodity stocks.
Posted by Greg Secker
