M&A lifts the FTSE 1.5% in opening deals

Shares tracked late gains in the US with M&A activity lifting BP and Reckitt Benckiser. 

The FTSE 100 was 68.9 points higher at 5208.67 with miners lifted by yet more bullish broker comments and upbeat updates from BHP and Hochschild.

US stocks closed off opening lows with the Dow up 75.53 points, or 0.74%, at 10,229 and the S&P 500 12.2 points higher at 1,083

Much better than hoped for sales and profits from Apple after the close of US markets boosted the mood this morning.

The pound will be in focus after a bumpy ride yesterday with the latest Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee minutes due later.

Most expect Andrew Sentance will have been the lone voice calling for a rate hike as most members still believe inflation will fall over the rest of the year.

Later US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke will be giving testimony and investors will be looking to see why the US Federal Open Market Committee reduced its US growth forecasts last week.

On the corporate front, acquisitions and disposals dominate the top line.

Reckitt Benckiser rose 93 to £32.83 after it made an agreed bid for Durex maker SSL at £11.71 per share. SSL shares jumped 287p to £11.69.

Simon Marshall-Lockyer, equity analyst at Jefferies, said: 'Reckitt's offer for SSL makes excellent strategic sense as it looks to expand its portfolio in the Health and Personal Care space. The addition would increase exposure to the Chinese and Japanese markets and add two new Powerbrands - Durex and Scholl - to the current portfolio.'　

Shares in BP were 10.7p higher at 398p after the group said it had sold $7 billion worth of assets - close to its $10 billion target for the year.

But there was less joy for grocery delivery group Ocado. The group slashed its IPO price by 20% to 180p. In conditional trading today shares were trading 9% lower at 163-164p.