London shares made a flat start in early trading as the Christmas holiday period approached.

Dealers at their desks sat on their hands until UK trade figures were released later.

The figures are expected to show the damage being done to manufacturers, which in turn should pile more pressure on the Bank of England to lower interest rates in the New Year.

Minutes of the last Monetary Policy Committee meeting should give further clues about the future for rates.

The FTSE 100 index of leading shares gained a marginal 5 points to 5848.3 in the opening minutes.

Overnight, Wall Street gained strongly although the Hang Seng posted heavy falls.

With little corporate news from the big-hitters, dealers' attention was turned to the smaller stocks.

A takeover approach for Vision Group, maker of camera and micro-chips saw the company gain 13p to 58.5p - a jump of nearly 29%.

Also in the FTSE 350, a takeover deal for BCH group, the vehicle hire company, saw shares jump 28.5p to 246p.

Software group Micro Focus announced a three-yearcontract to supply IT support to Lloyds TSB.

The news drove Micro Focus's shares up 11.5p to 110p.

Solder manufacturer Kelsey posted impressive full year profits despite declining electronics markets, leading shares up 15p to 355p.