Footsie starts the week in positive mood

The Footsie index of 100 leading stocks is up 34.5 points by mid-morning to stand at 5844.1, recovering some of last week's losses.

Although analysts have played down rumours that US telecoms giant Cisco Systems may be poised to bid for Marconi, the UK telecoms equipment group has seen its shares rise by 6% or 19p to 357p.