FTSE on way up

London's FTSE 100 Index resumed its upward path after drawing encouragement from a flurry of activity on Wall Street on Friday.

Amid a quiet start to the week for corporate news, the Footsie climbed back towards its one-year high, standing 32.1 points stronger at 4269.9 at mid-morning. Only a dozen companies were in negative territory.

While traders cheered a positive finish for the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Friday, there was also a further lift in sentiment towards telecoms stocks.

Vodafone, which has a major bearing on the overall direction of the market, cheered 2% or 2.5p to 125p while rival mmO2 added 1.5p to 60.5p.

Other major risers included defence group BAE Systems, up 5.5p to 181p following a broker upgrade, while insurers Royal & Sun Alliance and Legal & General gained 4p and 2.25p to 119p and 100.25p respectively.

Press speculation over a possible US interest in a future combined ITV helped lift shares in the major franchise holders Granada and Carlton.

Granada rose 3p to 99.75p while merger partner and FTSE 250-listed Carlton gained 6.75p to 169.75p as the pair also benefited from positive comments by Ulster Television about the ITV advertising market.

Ulster posted more modest gains of 2.5p to 322.5p after half-year turnover rose 14% and underlying operating profits remained unchanged at £7m (€9.9m).

Press speculation over the future of Manchester United over the weekend also boosted interest in the club's shares.

Despite a statement to the Stock Exchange this morning denying that it had received any approaches, shares in the Premiership club surged 3% or 5p to reach 175p.