Markets have once again wrong-footed investors following yesterday's more pessimistic close to trading, as the FTSE 100 rose early this morning.

The blue chip index initally bypassed concerns over France's AAA rating and the troubled situation in the US. However, volatility remains the order of the day and the index soon lost gains.

Essar Energy (ESSR.L) was the strongest riser (at 1022), as share price increased by 6.1 per cent to 278p.

Miners Xstrata (XTA.L) and Kazakhmys (KAZ.L) rose by 4 per cent to 1,039.5p and 3.8 per cent to 952.5p, respectively.

Elsewhere, interdealer broker ICAP (ICAP.L) saw its share price up 3.8 per cent to 406p and financial services group Legal & General (LGEN.L) climbed 3.7 per cent higher to 97.2p.

At the other end of the scale, Randgold Resources (RRS.L) was the biggest faller (at 1023), dropping 0.8 per cent to 6,335p.

Imperial Tobacco (IMT.L) fell 0.7 per cent to 1,960p, engineer Smiths Group (SMIN.L) dropped 0.7 per cent to 939.5p.

Completing the bottom five fallers were supermarket Morrisons (MRW.L), falling 0.4 per cent to 276p and British American Tobacco (BATS.L), which saw share price fall by 0.3 per cent to 2,590.5p.

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