FTSE advances in early trading

AstraZeneca leads the early morning winners, jumping 95p, or 5.04%, to £19.79, while Alliance & Leicester also gained, up 23p to 541.5p. The Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Barclays and HBOS have also made headway on Tuesday. However, gains are being stemmed by early setbacks for Lonmin, down 102p, or 3.32%, to £29.69, Anglo American and Xstrata. In the US, the Dow Jones made marginal gains on Monday, climbing 46.49 points, or 0.38%, to 12,262.89. Home Depot advanced 0.59 points, or 2.15%, to 27.97, while Pfizer also gained, climbing 0.43 points, or 2.1%, to 20.93. GEN Motors, Intel Corpo...