MORNING REPORT: Headline shares made firm early progress, as investors pushed aside concerns over Greek debt to concentrate on a rally in commodity prices, with miners and oil producers underpinning early gains. At 8:30am, the FTSE100 was up 31.34 points at 5,724.53 with the FTSE250 ahead 41.4 points at 11,579.2 and the FTSE Smallcaps 5.88 points better at 3,234.4. US & ASIA In the US last night, the DJIA rose 76 points at 12,080, the Nasdaq Composite added 13 points at 2,630 and the S&P500 gained 7 points at 1,278. In Asia today, the Nikkei closed up 105 points at 9,460, while the Hang Seng was recently ahead 232 points at 21,831. LONDON MARKETS Investors pushed aside concerns over Greek debt this morning, with a recovery in commodity prices underpinning firm early gains in London. Amongst the miners, Xstrata was the best of breed, up 24.75p at 1,282.75p, while Antofagasta improved 17.5p at 1,227.5p as copper prices rallied and BHP Billiton shrugged off news that coking coal mines in Australia face further rolling strikes, the shares rising 13.5p at 2,272p. Oil producers improved in line with a rise in the WTI crude price, with BP also lifted after it announced it has reached agreement with Weatherford to settle potential claims related to the Deepwater Horizon accident. BP gained 9.95p at 439.6p. Elsewhere, BG Group was ahead 15.25p at 1,326.25p and Shell 21.25p better at 2,141.75p. However, coffee house to hotel and restaurant group Whitbread jumped to the top of the leaderboard, adding 72.5p at 1,557.5p, after it reported total sales were up 9.2% in the 13 weeks to 2nd June 2011, up 1.7% like-for-like.

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