FTSE opens solidly as financials lead way

The FTSE 100 opened morning trading in positive territory, with financials leading the way.

As at 9.15, London's leading index was up 36.9 points, or 0.7% to 5,322. Barclays started the day's trading strongly, up 6.15 points or 2.16%. Prudential and RSA Insurance Group are also among the morning's top performers.

United Utilities Group (down 1.56%), SABMiller (down 0.66%), BHP Billiton (down 0.55%) and Imperial Tobacco (down 0.47%) are among the day's losers.

The Dow Jones finished trading yesterday down 0.47%, or 49.05 points, to end on 10,452. Investor confidence was knocked by downbeat economic news, with producer prices rising higher than expected to fuel inflation concerns.

The producer price index, which was expected to increase marginally by 0.8%, rose 1.8% in November. However, interest rates are widely expected to remain at their historical low of between 0-0.25% this week. Bank of America and JP Morgan were among the day's losers, as Barack Obama told executives of some of America's top banks to increase lending to small and medium-size businesses. Walt Disney and Hewlett-Packard featured in the day's top five winners.

Meanwhile, the Nikkei rose 0.93% with financials performing strongly after a report indicated the introduction of new capital rules could be delayed.