Miners helped London’s leading equity gauge climb 50 points higher in early deals as precious metal prices edged up.
Shares in Randgold Resources (LON:RRS) added 100p to 4,650p while Fresnillo (LON:FRES) and Antofagasta (LON:ANTO) made gains of 3.3% and 3% respectively.
Overall, the FTSE 100 was 45 points higher at the time of writing to 6,766 – a 0.7% increase.
ITV (LON:ITV) made gains on news that it has agreed to acquire Dutch TV production company Talpa Media for £355mln.
That offset shares in struggling supermarket group Morrison (LON:MRW), which lost 1%.
The grocer said it will cut its future dividend payment after revealing a slide in quarterly sales and a wider full-year loss.
TSB (LON:TSB), the bank recently spun out of Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY) , is set to taken over by Spanish bank Sabadell after receiving an offer worth 340p. The news sent TSB shares soaring 26% higher to 334p today.
Mid-cap stock Serco (LON:SRP), which handles a lot of outsourced government work, posted a loss of £1.35bn for the year from a pre-tax profit in 2013 of £108mln. It has also announced a £550mln rights issue priced at a 51% discount. Shares slumped 14% to 178p.
Good news for Cineworld (LON:CINE) this morning, the firm said full-year pre-tax earnings more than doubled, helped by higher box office revenue. Shares were 4.2% higher.
Home Retail Group (LON:HOME), the firm behind Homebase and Argos, expects full-year profits to be at the top end of earlier expectations, despite weaker takings in final eight weeks. Shares fell 8%.
In the AIM market, shares in online fashion retailer ASOS (LON:ASC) shot up 17% as the firm reported its international business had begun growing again in the last three months as it dropped prices.
Construction equipment giant JCB is to take a sizeable stake in energy to power group ITM Power(LON:ITM), boosting shares by 11% to 29p.
ECR Minerals (LON:ECR) told investors it has now completed the three initially planned drill holes at the Itogon gold project in the Philippines. Shares gained 6%.