FTSE up 1.5% on bid news

The FTSE 100 opened strongly at the start of the week, boosted by Friday’s late rally on Wall Street and positive corporate news.

At 10am, the index had risen 1.54% or 82.08 points to 5,414.47.

One of the risers was International Power, which advanced 4.34% to 382.3p on the expectation its acquisition by GDF Suez will be announced this week.

BP aslo performed strongly, up 2% to 433.85p, after hailing its ‘static kill' operation a success.

Fallers included Essar Energy, down 0.52% to 405.6p, while African Barrick Gold dipped 0.35% to 566p.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones shed 0.2% or 21.42 points to 10,653.56 after data showed the US lost more jobs than expected in July.

However, the index did recover some of it earlier losses, which had taken it to an intra-day low of 10,515.37.

US payrolls fell 131,000 though the unemployment rate was unchanged at 9.5%.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 fell 0.72% or 69.77 points to 9,572.35 after Friday's disappointing US jobs data.

The news led to the yen strengthening against the US dollar, which weighed on exporters.