Miner Xstrata was the biggest riser in early morning trading, after minining stocks rallied at the end of play yesterday as commodity prices strengthen.

Xstrata saw share price rise by 1.4 per cent to 1,215p and was closely followed by peer Randgold Resources, which witnessed a 1.3 per cent rise early on Thursday to 6,575p.

Consultancy services firm Amec, which also offers services to the companies operating in the natural resources space, also rose in early morning trading as share price increased by 1.2 per cent to 967.5p.

The biggest faller was cruise firm Carnival, dropping by 1.6 per cent to 2,451p despite revealing positive results for the third quarter earlier this week.

Lloyds Banking Group slipped by 1.3 per cent to 74.89p, while biopharmaceutical company Shire saw share price drop by 1.2 per cent to 1,456p.