Morning Markets: Standard Life leads flat early FTSE

UK insurer Standard Life leads the gains this morning despite reporting a fall in life and pensions sales in 2009.

While UK and worldwide sales were down last year, the company's shares are up 3.2% to 204p after it posted better-than-expected sales of £4.2bn in Q4. However, its rise has not lifted the FTSE 100, which is flat in early trading, at 5275.08 points, only 0.2% off its close yesterday. Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are also gaining ground following Bank of America Merrill Lynch 'buy' recommendations. Barclays is up 1.8% to 295p, while RBS rose 1.6% to 36.7p. Shares in software provider Autonomy have fallen by 2.1% to £15.36, despite reporting full-year sales growth of 47%. In...