Results give a boost to blue chips

FTSE 100 Index up 13 points to 5248.2 by mid-morning

British Airways and Royal Bank of Scotland clawed back some recent lost ground in a busy session for blue-chip results.

Beleaguered airline BA was the biggest riser on the FTSE 100 Index - up 5% - after revealing more plans for jobs cuts and cost savings as it steps up the battle to get the business back on track.

Signs of improvement at RBS also helped the part-nationalised bank lift in early trade, although the wider Footsie was in a subdued mood, ahead 11.2 points at 5136.8 despite stellar gains on Wall Street.

America's Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 200 points to hit its first close above 10,000 in two weeks thanks to news of a drop in unemployment claims.

The report raised hopes over the government's key monthly report on employment.

In London, BA rose 8.5p to 194.8p as cost cutting overshadowed a worse than expected interim pre-tax loss of £292 million.

Investors also overlooked more hefty losses at RBS, at £1.53 billion in the third quarter, to send shares up 1.17p to 36.38p.

Rentokil Initial meanwhile fell 0.8p to 111.2p in spite of narrowing losses at its troubled City Link arm.