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.

In London, a number of tech stocks have bounced back. They include chip designer ARM Holdings, up 7½p at 252½p; software group Sage, up 6p to 248p; and computer services group Logica, jumping 16p to 836p.

Banks, which also suffered heavily yesterday, are on the increase - with Abbey National up 20p at £12.05; and HSBC up 11½p at 831½p.

And shares in Lattice Group are up 9% or 12½p to 154p after gas regulator Ofgem backed away from a price control plan for the five years between 2002-7, which would have slashed revenues at the group's gas pipeline company Transco.

The regulator has decided to stick with the same method it has used in the past to measure Transco's regulatory asset base.

A move to a more focused calculation could have cut Transco's asset base by £2 billion, and the market is expected to upgrade Lattice as a result.

Of those stocks heading south, Marconi has slipped 6½p to 230½p after announcing plans to merge its network provider ipsaris with European firm Easynet, creating a company valued at £475m.

Other telecoms stocks under pressure include Telewest Communications, off 1¼p at 83¼p; Cable & Wireless, off 4p at 382p; and Colt Telecom, down 1½p at 444p.