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(Open): Imperial Tobacco was the biggest riser on the FTSE 100 in early Thursday trading, despite reporting a 7% fall in its sales volumes.
The firm said its full-year expectations remained unchanged, boosting the stock by 2%.
In general, however, the market continued to head downward, after the FTSE 100 closed lower on Wednesday.
In the opening minutes, the benchmark index declined by 31.94 points, or 0.48%, to 6,555.49.
The biggest loser was pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca, which shed 2%, extending its losses from the previous session when it went ex-dividend.
Ex-dividend means that the dividend on the shares in question belongs to the seller rather than the buyer.
On the currency markets, the pound was up 0.2% against the dollar at $1.553 and little moved against the euro at 1.169 euros.
Source: BBC News - Business http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-11899862#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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