Footsie gains 30.5 points in first hour

The FTSE 100 Index is up 30.5 points at 5166.8 after an hour's trading.

Vodafone is reversing yesterday's losses as investors welcome its results.

Although sinking into a loss of £13.5bn (€21.2bn) - hit by goodwill and write-offs - the group showed strong profits growth before one-offs.

Write-offs were also lower than the market expected, and did not include German telecoms giant Mannesmann, which it bought two years ago.

Vodafone shares are up 8% or 8p to 113p - adding £5.5bn (€8.6bn) to its market value - after it cheered the market by predicting double-digit revenue growth.

The mobile phone group makes up more than 8% of the FTSE 100 in weighting, and rival mmO2 is also benefiting - up 5% or 2¼p at 50¾p.

Technology firms doing well include computer services group Logica, up 6½p at 231¾p; software group Sage, up 4½p at 185p; and ARM Holdings, up 1¾p at 201½p.

The Footsie is also being boosted by expectations that the US markets will open higher this afternoon, following yesterday's Memorial Day holiday.

Fallers in London trading include Barclays, which is down 15p to 605p after saying costs and bad debt provisions have risen against last year.

Among smaller stocks, Hull-based Kingston Communications is up 4% or 3¼p to 92½p after saying it had delivered a 'solid' performance last year and was well placed to maintain growth.