FTSE buoyed by Wall Street gains

The London market made a good start to the week today, helped by a 4% jump in media group Pearson’s shares and buoyed by gains on Wall Street on Friday.

After an hour’s trading, the FTSE 100 Index was up 36 points at 4052.6 and building on the modest gains seen in the City before the weekend.

Rises on Wall Street on Friday, where the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all finished ahead, also helped the mood this morning.

Tom Hougaard, trader at City Index, said: ‘‘We are expecting a quiet morning in the UK with higher prices across the board.

‘‘There is still a degree of uncertainty in the market after one of the toughest months in this bear market.’’

One of the biggest Footsie risers of the morning was Pearson, up 22p to 592p, as it reported a rise in profits and gave upbeat forecasts for its education business and Penguin books arm.

The group has however been hit by the advertising downturn and profits at its Financial Times group are forecast to slide by up to 15% this year.

Insurers were also helping lift the market. Aviva and Prudential, which have been heavily hit in the recent sell-off, were up 13p at 408p and 13p at 463p respectively.

And oil giants Shell and BP, both due to report figures this week, made gains, up 6½p at 405p and 6½p at 460½p respectively.

Among the smaller stocks, fashion chain Monsoon slipped 2%, down 2p to 109½p, despite reporting a strong rise in like-for-like sales and profits.

The group cautioned it was unlikely to maintain its high like for like sales growth over the remainder of the year.