Market Update: Shares consolidate early gains helped by fresh recovery in BP and firm mining sector

Share prices continue to track higher against a background of a steady Wall Street, a further recovery in BP, a brighter mining sector and receding eurozone debt worries.

By 9.45am the FTSE 100 index was up 22 points at 5,276 and the Mid-250 index 35 points better at 9,899.

BP continued to build on yesterday's rally, up 12p to 372p, as more brokers issued positive reviews of the group while cutting their target prices.

Yesterday chief executive Tony Hayward endured a savaging from a US Congress committee, which accused him of 'stonewalling' about what caused the Gulf of Medico oil spill.

Miners recovered some of yesterday's falls with Fresnillo at £10.56, Lonmin £16.89, Xstrata £10.33 and Randgold Resources between 1.68% and 3.32% firmer.

Recently tipped Reckitt Benckiser made further progress at £33.68, up 44p.

Banks maintained their brighter tone with RBS up 0.63p to 47.3p as Santander confirmed its offer for the UK lender's branch network.

Greenland exploration hopes underpinned Cairn Energy at 492p, up 5p and Carnival rallied 30p to £26.23 ahead of figures next week.

On the minus side negative broker notes unsettled Capita Group at 785.5p, Serco 623p and Tesco 395p, down 3p to 14p and the prospect of a long strike undermined BT Group at 137p, down 2.80p.

Defensive stocks were neglected as investors switched to the riskier sectors.

GlaxoSmithKline at £12.06, AstraZeneca £30.62, National Grid 511.5p and Severn Trent £12.31 shed 2.5p to 19.5p.

Bluebay Asset Management gained 9.5p to 294.5p as KBC Peel Hunt initiated coverage of the stock with a buy.