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According to Reuters, the leading index on the British stock exchange is up 8.4 per cent in total this month and is still on course for its best December since 1987, when it rose 8.5 per cent.
At 08:30 GMT, the FTSE 100 recorded an increase of 1.96 points to stand at 6,010.88, following its close of more than 6,000 points - for the first time since June 2008 - on Christmas Eve.
Increases in energy shares managed to offset a weakness for miners today, as the latter may have been affected by China's Christmas Day decision to raises interest rates by a quarter of a point.
This comes after yesterday morning saw the FTSEurofirst 300 fall by 0.3 per cent at 1,140.58 points, while it shed 0.9 per cent in the previous session.
Posted by Greg Secker
