Britain's FTSE 100 pushed higher this morning after an early 1.2 per cent fall as investors warmed to strong results from insurer Aviva and medical devices firm Smith & Nephew.
But banks stayed weak after a hike in bad debt provisions at Barclays.
The banks took 14 points off the FTSE, as Barclays fell 3.4 per cent after it announced a 43 per cent rise in bad debt provisions to £713 million sterling, largely due to debt-laden Argentina's economic problems.
By 8.15 Irish time, however, the blue chip index was up 26.5 points to 4,272.7, squeezing back up from an initial low of 4,195 points.
Aviva jumped 11 per cent after reporting operating profits at the upper end of analyst forecasts. The Aviva results buoyed other insurers, with Legal & General and Prudential up 1 and 2 per cent, respectively.
Smith & Nephew added 3.8 per cent after topping forcasts with a 13 per cent rise in first-half profits.