After a shaky start this morning, the FTSE 100 recovered to rise 26 points led by a rally in financial stocks.
The index opened 5.65 points lower at 4,442.89 after US markets slumped on poor jobs data on Friday but quickly recovered to 4,469.57 by 09:22.
Old Mutual led the risers, up 5.66 per cent, while Royal Bank of Scotland followed closely with a 5.08 per cent jump, Lloyds TSB rose 4.33 per cent and HBOS was up 3.38 per cent.
The rally followed news the government has acquired a majority stake in the merged Lloyds TSB/HBOS superbank, which is hoped will help stabilise the market.
Mining stocks were still headed lower on the index, but the falls were not as heavy as last week.
Antofagasta was down by 2.65 per cent, while Eurasian Natural Resources fell by 1.7 per cent and Vedanta Resources was 1.11 per cent lower.
On Friday, US index the Dow Jones dropped 1.64 per cent on news jobs were shed at their fastest pace since World War II over 2008.
In Asia, Japan's Nikkei was down by 0.45 per cent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 2.83 per cent.
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