9:30AM The FTSE 100 gains slightly in afternoon trading on miners, M&A.
At 2:30 GMT, the FTSE 100 in London is 1.90 points, or 0.03% higher, at 6,196.10.

Advancers

Home Retail and Experian, the old GUS, are both doing. Home Retail Group is 0.98% while Experian spurted 3.09%.

Vodafone was among the stocks, leading the gainers, up 0.55% %, as the largest mobile phone operator in the world reported a rise in interim revenues to 15.6 billion pounds and confirmed its guidance.

InterContinental Hotels was 1.3% higher after the hotels group posted a 10% increase in third-quarter revenue.

Resolution, the closed life fund consolidator, advanced 1.6% on hopes it could find a merger partner.

Engineering design group Aveva rose 11.20% as it issued another earnings upgrade. First half profits rose by 191% and the second will beat market forecasts Aveva announced.

Miners also enjoyed a strong showing after sharp falls in the previous session. Xstrata rose 1.4%, Rio Tinto gained 0.8% and Kazakhmys was 0.8% stronger.

Decliners

Acambis is one the worst peformers, down 38.19%, as the vaccine maker warned that the US has dropped it from its smallpox vaccine tender process.

BskyB took a hit, declining 1.36%, as Deutsche Bank announced that the satellite broadcaster guided down forecasts for next year.

Energy group and bid target Scottish Power started the day brightly but has slipped down 0.61% despite first half profits also topped the forecasts of analysts.

7:30AM Asian stocks advance led by upbeat Japanese stocks.
Asian markets finished higher on Tuesday. The Nikkei 225 Index rose 1.7% to finish at 16289.55. Leading advancers were machinery stock Okuma jumping 11%. TDK adding 2.1%. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group increasing 4.2% and Mitsui Fudosan posting a 2.3% rise. However, shares in Aozora, a once-ailing Japanese bank turned around by U.S. private-equity firm Cerberus Partners and other investors, closed down 12% from its premarket IPO price.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index ended 0.1% higher at 18,878.42. Stocks closed only slightly higher as gains in China-related blue chips offset weakness in HSBC Holdings shares. Shares of HSBC declined 1.5% after the company posted a worrying fall in earnings at its U.S. units. Industrial & Commercial Bank of China gained 2.1%, while China Mobile increased 1.6%.

In Seoul, the Korea Composite Stock Price Index, or Kospi, rose 0.8% to 1,407.37. Samsung Securities gained 2.1% and Woori Investment & Securities rose 4%. Samsung Electronics gained 1.3% and Hynix Semiconductor rose 0.9%. Korean Air also jumped 4.2% despite announcing disappointing third-quarter results. Analysts believe prospects of Korean Air are likely to improve in the fourth quarter as oil prices began to fall from mid-August and are likely to remain stable for the rest of the year.

Other indices also gained. Australia S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%, while New Zealand NZX-50 Index ended 0.6% higher. Singapore Straits Times Index added 0.5% and Taiwan Weighted Price Index rose 1%.

6:30AM European stocks advanced supported by telecom companies.
European markets were higher on Tuesday. By mid morning, the FTSE 100 in London added 0.3% 6,210.7, Frankfurt Xetra Dax gained 0.1% to 6,397.55, and the CAC 40 in Paris was marginally higher at 5,490.4.

Advancers

UK mobile group Vodafone kept its full-year guidance of 5 - 6.5% organic revenue growth after reporting a forecast-beating rise in first-half core earnings. Vodafone gained 2%.

Telefonica, the Spanish telecoms group, gained 0.7% after reporting a better-than-expected 43% rise in nine-month operating revenue.