Wall St hopes bolster Footsie

The FTSE 100 Index is up 27.4 points at 4030.1 on hopes of another bright session on Wall Street.

Yesterday the Dow Jones Industrial Average and tech-laden Nasdaq pulled back from early losses to close in positive territory.

ICI and Shell are leading the risers. ICI has jumped 20.75p to 248.5p - a 9% surge - as brokers upgraded the stock after third-quarter results beat analyst forecasts.

Shell - one of the market's biggest stocks - is up 14p to 407p after its third-quarter results came in slightly ahead of some analyst forecasts.

The BP slid 7% yesterday after production targets were cut for the third time this year but now the shares have nudged up 2p at 406p.

BHP Billiton is also stronger, up 2.75p to 311.5p, after its first-quarter results came in at the top end of expectations.

But among the fallers,Hays has sunk 19% after a profits warning, down 21.75p at 89.25p.

Vodafone and mmO2 have dropped after ABN Amro downgraded the stocks. MmO2 has lost 2p at 48.25p while Vodafone has eased 1.5p to 103p.

And among smaller stocks, Shanks has sunk 10p to 78p after a disappointing set of half-year figures. Investec then further dented the stock when it downgraded full-year profits forecasts for the company.

Pizza Express is another faller, off 6p at 277.5p, after the restaurant chain served up a downbeat trading statement. The company said sales had not improved in October with trading "broadly similar" to the first quarter, when like-for-like sales fell 4.4%.