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FTSE rebounds on upbeat earnings

Tuesday, February 05 12:31:05

Britain's top share index rebounded today from a steep fall in the previous session, as investors switched their focus from euro zone worries to a generally solid set of company updates.

The FTSE 100 was up 0.7 percent at 6,287.69, a day after suffering its biggest one-day fall in three months as political uncertainties in Europe and a string of analyst downgrades sparked profit taking from 4-1/2-year highs.

Oil heavyweight BP added more than 5.5 points to the index after strong fourth-quarter figures.

"The likes of BP have come in and beaten expectations, and by a comfortable margin too," Alastair McCaig, market analyst at IG Index, said.

"...The market has pretty quickly shrugged off the negativity of yesterday. We've been through a month where equity markets have once again shown their popularity with investors."

In January the FTSE 100 posted its strongest start to the year since 1989, rising 6.4 percent.

Other corporate results also helped fuel further gains on Tuesday, with chip designer ARM up 3.7 percent after fourth-quarter profits that beat expectations.

But oil and gas firm BG fell 2 percent after it said it would miss 2015 production targets.