That comes as the euro/dollar slips below the 1.28 dollar mark in early trading.

Related to the above, new Bank of England Deputy Governor Minouche Shafik told the Yorkshire Post on Thursday morning that the Eurozone represents a “significant risk” for the UK economy, while also highlighting concerns about low inflation.

BoE Governor Mark Carney is due to offer a speech this afternoon from Wales, at 13:40.

As of 08:56 the FTSE 100 was 8 points higher at 6,714.

Overnight Wall Street ended the session with large gains thanks to a dovish speech from a Fed official and strong US housing figures.

In something of a surprise, new home sales in America climbed 18% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 504,000 units, the highest since May 2008.

“This week is beginning to look like a tale of two halves, with yesterday witnessing substantial gains across both US and Asian indices which are now expected to carry on through to the European market today,” Alpari UK market analyst Joshua Mahony said.

“With European markets virtually bereft of any notable data or economic release today, it is likely that they will follow the lead of the US and Asian markets higher.”

Tesco’s stratospheric error still in the news

Back in the UK, and in company news, retailer Sports Direct International revealed it has entered into a put option on 23m Tesco shares, which it said reflected its belief in the company. The company stated that the investment “reflects Sports Direct’s growing relationship with Tesco and belief in Tesco’s long-term future,” it explained.

In parallel, speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live Adrian Bailey, chairman of the parliamentary business committee, said Tesco executives may be asked to explain the firm’s £250m misstatement of first-half profits which took £2bn off its stock market capitalisation.

Analysts at JP Morgan have lowered their price target on shares of Sainsbury to 225p from 280p and Deutsche Bank to 275p from 330p.

Insurance provider Direct Line has announced an agreement to sell its international division to Mapfre for €550m. Direct Line described the deal as the last step in its strategic review and said that it expects to recognise a pre-tax gain on disposal of approximately £160m.

Retail property developer Hammerson is launching a share placing to help it buy a major shopping centre in the English Midlands and to start a new outlet shopping centre venture. The placing is for up to about 71.3m new ordinary shares of 25p each, representing about a 10th of the company’s valuation.