Shares in consumer electronics semiconductors supplier Wolfson Microelectronics have recovered following yesterday's announcement that Artemis had taken its stake above 13%.

Futures pointing to a strong start on Wall Street after better than expected retail sales figures and demand for the UK banks have kept Footsie moving upwards.

Banks are driving Footsie upwards following a sluggish start. Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays are all higher.

Banks have injected a bit of life into Footsie following a sluggish start.

Early gains have all now evaporated and Footsie has slipped into the red despite a good rally on Wall Street overnight.

Encouraged by Wall Street's late surge yesterday UK stocks are set to start the last day of the week on a firm footing. It's been a week in which Footsie has largely taken small steps, however, and the theme looks set to continue at the outset with traders expecting the blue-chip index to open no more than 20 points higher.

London bounced off 5,600 despite a weak start on Wall Street but still closed in the red on a poor day for miners.

Miners dominate the fallers on the Footsie today as they are hit by fears that the Chinese government may try to hold back growth in the Chinese economy. Kazakhmys and Fresnillo are the biggest fallers.

Large trades just before 10am have pushed up the share price of Kofax. The document processing technology provider has doubled in value over the past year.

A steady decline continued through lunch, but London bounced off 5,600 despite a weak start on Wall Street as mining sector losses narrowed very slightly.

IT infrastructure services provider Computacenter falls back even after it reported a better than expected 26% rise in full-year pre-tax profit and said it enters 2010 in good shape.

The Footsie has drifted into the red, weighed down by the weakness of mining stocks.

London's leading shares are treading water, with losses on miners offset by gains on banks and travel companies.

London's main index is being dragged lower by mining stocks, though Old Mutual is the weakest link among the blue chips after it published full-year results this morning.

It looks like being a gloomy start to trade in London after last night's flat finish on Wall Street, wit stocks pulling back from yesterday's new 18-month high.

Footsie lacked direction for much of the day, but found strength following a bright start in the US to continue its gradual ascent of recent days.

ARK Therapeutics has made back some of yesterday's loss after the publication of its 2009 figures.