Oil stocks boost Footsie 44 points to 5854

The FTSE 100 is higher in afternoon trading thanks to Marconi takeover speculation and an increase in the cost of Brent crude delivery for August. The Footsie gained 44.7 points to 5854.5 with Marconi up 19.5p to 357.5p following reports in the Sunday press that Cisco is keen to buy the British telecom equipment maker. The Brent crude settlement climbed 49 cents to $28.30 after the Iraq halted its supplies because of trade sanction complications with the United Nations. Shell gained 11p to 629p and BP rose 5.5p to 637p with the pair adding more than 9 points alone to the FTSE index....