Footsie bounces back after Wall Street makes gains

The FTSE 100 Index appears to have shaken off yesterday's woes, gaining 41.4 points to reach 5130.7 after an hour's trading.

Shares in ICI are down nearly 10% or 39p to 332p after it revealed plans to raise €1.3bn through a rights issue.

The group also aims to sell its catalyst business Synetix - thought by analysts to be worth €245m - to help trim its €4.7bn debts.

The London market has been cheered by rises on Wall Street last night after the Federal Reserve left interest rates on hold, helping boost investors' confidence that the worst economic news is now over.

Telecoms and tech stocks are rebounding on the better sentiment, with Vodafone up 2¼p at 152¼p; Cable & Wireless rising 8¼p to 275½p; BT Group up 9¾p at 233p; and mmO2 1½p ahead at 77¾p.

Computer services group Logica is up 11p to 533p; while chip designer ARM Holdings is up 7¼p at 321p.

Telewest Communications is up 2p at 36½p; Spirent has put on 8½p at 166½p; Marconi is up 1p at 24p; Energis has gained ¾p at 19p; and Colt Telecom is up 2¼p at 70¾p.

But Tate & Lyle is off 5p at 327p after it said the sale of its US sugar processing business Western Sugar had fallen through.