PARIS: Shares in supermarkets led the FTSE 100 higher after news of a planned merger on the continent between Dutch-based Ahold and Belgium’s Delhaize.
Morrisons was up 3% and Sainsbury’s shares rose 2.5%. Sainsbury’s shares were also boosted by Societe Generale raising its rating on the stock to “buy” from “hold”.
Shortly before midday, the FTSE 100 was 19.50 points higher at 6,854.37.
Energy shares also bolstered the index as oil prices rose.
Hopes that new figures from the US will show oil stocks continuing to fall pushed the price of Brent crude up 48 cents to $64.93 a barrel, while US benchmark crude rose 45 cents to $61.64.
Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell rose 1.7% and BG Group was 1.6% higher.
Shares in Stagecoach rose 0.8% after the transport group reported an increase in full-year profits.
Pre-tax profits excluding one-off items rose to £185m from £180.7m a year earlier, with revenues up to £3.2bn from £2.93bn.
On the currency markets, the pound rose 0.17% against the dollar to $1.5755, and dipped 0.05% against the euro to €1.4078.
