Defensive moves push FTSE up

It was a muted start to trading today but the blue-chip index now stands almost 30 points up at 5,925.

Big contributors were the pharma stocks, adding 25 points; tobacco adding a further 22, and the oil companies, pushing the market up by 21 points.

The consensus seems to be that this is a defensive move, ahead of some big data coming out tomorrow - UK fourth quarter GDP numbers and also information on UK public finances.

The big gainers have been British American Tobacco, now heading the leaderboard, up 3.2% at £23.56; Astrazeneca, up 65p to £30.29; and Imperial Tobacco, up 2% to £18.41.

The banks are still dragging the market back, taking 17 points off the index following Sir John Vickers' speech at the weekend.