Markets buoyed by bullish Buffett

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s bullish outlook for the US has boosted markets, pushing the Dow Jones up 96 points and the FTSE back above the 6,000 mark.

In his annual letter to shareholders, Buffett says he is "itching" to make new acquisitions for his portfolio and now is the time for significant new investments.

This positive sentiment propelled the Dow Jones up 95.89 points, or 0.79%, to 12,226.34 while the S&P 500 increased 7.34 points to 1,327.22.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.61% to 6,030.75 in early morning trading.

The index's leading shares were GKN, up 2.62%, Fresnillo, up 2.26%, Xstrata, rising 2.06%, Eurasian Natural Resources Corp, climbing 1.97% and Aggreko, up 1.94%.

Conversely, HSBC fell 1.36%, Sage Group dropped 0.98%, Reed Elsevier lost 0.82%, Marks and Spencer Group fell 0.81% while Kingfisher fell 0.79%.

In Europe, France's Cac 40 was up 0.46% at 4129.40 while Germany's Dax edged higher by 0.65% to 7319.93.

In Asia, Japanese stocks gained for the second consecutive day, as higher oil prices help to combat deflation. The Nikkei was up 1.2% at 10,754.03.