The FTSE 100 kicked off the fourth quarter on a positive note in early trading, though shares dipped slightly towards mid-morning.
London's main index moved forward this morning, having registered the strongest quarter in its history over the last three months and was down 7.24 points (0.14%) at 5,126.66 points just after 10:00am.
Legal & General continues to benefit from speculation Clive Cowdry's Resolution is circling the insurer and received a boost from a Deutsche Bank upgrade. Shares in the insurer were up 5.64% to 92.75p.
A company upgrade from Morgan Stanley has pushed shares in Vedanta Resources higher this morning. Shares in the miner were up 5.31% to £20.03.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank has also helped Aviva climb this morning after saying it felt the insurer was undervalued. Aviva shares were up 4.20% to 466p.
Despite a sector upgrade this morning, miners are leading the downside this morning, with platinum producer, Lonmin, bearing the brunt, shedding 2.51% to £16.32.
Antofagasta, Randgold Resources and Anglo American are also pushing the index down, each losing between 1.80% and 2%.
After a turbulent day's trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones closed slightly lower at 9,712.28 points after dropping 29.92 points (0.31%).
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 also closed down this morning, shedding 154.59 yen (1.53%) to 9,978.64 yen.
