Bright start from mmO2

The FTSE 100 Index is up 51.3 points at 5342.3, helped by gains in banking, oil and in telecoms.

BT's mobile phone business mmO2, which in grey market trading last week climbed from its 74p starting price, has shot up 5¼p to 85¼p when full trading started.

Nearly 193 million mmO2 shares have changed hands, making it the most heavily traded blue-chip stock in the City.

The rump of BT, now called BT Group, has also been heavily traded, with 21 million shares dealt, and its shares are up 11½p at 289½p.

Among the oil stocks, BP is up 9p to 512p, while Enterprise Oil has risen 5p to 438½p. Shell has lost earlier gains to slip 3p to 474p.

Banks have also jumped forward with Lloyds TSB gaining 2%, up 13½p to 739½p, after a reassuring update before a series of analyst meetings.

Other banks also ahead are Royal Bank of Scotland, up 16p to £16.89, HBOS rising 20p to 854p, HSBC 9½p higher at 839p and Barclays up 35p at £22.48.

Standard Chartered has also shot up, rising 7% or 56p at 856p on speculation over the weekend that Barclays could be eyeing it up as a takeover target.

EMI has surged 5%, up 14¾p to 318¾p, despite profits and sales plunging in the first half after reassuring investors its full-year targets are achievable.

Outside the top 100, Somerfield has slumped 5% - down 4½p to 87½p - after revealing a slump in second-quarter sales at its supermarket stores.