Footsie makes up some of its losses

The Footsie index of 100 leading stocks is up 20.6 points after an hour's trading to stand at 5576.2, recovering marginally from yesterday's woes.

Sentiment has been helped by gains on the Nasdaq in the US overnight and a recovery on the Dow Jones as traders anticipated the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates by up to 0.5% later today.