FTSE edges up after Wall Street recovery

The FTSE 100 index edged higher in early trading following gains in the US last night.

The blue chip index was up 0.21% at 5,808 at 08:45am, with better than expected results from consumer-facing stocks helping to buoy the market.

Among the winners was Kingfisher, up 4.59%, followed by Next, up 4.02%, and Marks and Spencer Group, up 1.51%.

On the downside Imperial Tobacco was the biggest laggard, dropping 2.39%.

United Utilities Group followed, down 1.12%, BT Group dropped 0.89%, ARM Holdings was down 0.86% and Autonomy Corporation lost 0.86%.

The gains in the UK followed a recovery on Wall Street where the Dow bounced back from early losses to end the day up 0.6% at 12,086.

Overnight in Asia concerns over radiation leaks weighed on investor sentiment, with 0.2% drop in the Nikkei 225, which closed down at 9,435.01.