Let's get a quick update on the FTSE 100 - and it's currently at 7,513.43, a fall of 10 points or 0.14%.

Bank of England governor Mark Carney's speech caused sterling to fall and that drove the FTSE 100 higher, on the grounds that companies in the index, which make a lot of their profits abroad, benefit from a weaker pound.

But as the graph above shows, the FTSE has since retreated from those gains.

The FTSE 100 is up around half a percent at 7,497.

Sainsbury remains the big winner with a 2.5% gain.

There are stronger gains for stock markets on the continent of Europe.

In Paris the Cac-40 index is up almost 1%, following the large parliamentary majority won by Emmanuel Macron in Sunday's election.

Airbus is the leading share there with a 2.2% gain, it announced an order for 100 of its A320neo jets from a leasing firm.

In Frankfurt the Dax is up 0.8%, with steelmaker Thyssenkrupp the biggest winner.

The FTSE 100 has made healthy gains in early trading. It's up almost 1% at 7,522.

Banks are doing well so far. Barclays is up almost 2%, Lloyds Banking Group is up almost 1%, RBS is up more than 1%.

Miners are also doing well, Anglo American is up 1.8%.

Tesco and Sainsbury, down 4.9% and 3.8% respectively, were the main FTSE 100 losers. Marks & Spencer also fell 1.9%. Investors were spooked by Amazon's surprise deal to buy supermarket chain Whole Foods.

Whole Foods, although based mainly in the US, has nine outlets in the UK. Amazon already has a limited partnership with Morrison.

Away from the retail sector, shares in Rolls-Royce rose 1.4% after the engineering group said it had made a good start to 2017, with "all businesses performing in line with expectations".

The company also revealed that the weakness of the pound was set to lift revenues by £400m and profits by £50m. The drop in the value of the pound since the Brexit vote means that Rolls-Royce's dollar earnings are worth more when converted back into sterling.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were St James's Place, up 4.2%, and Mondi, up 4.1%. The blue chip index itself closed up 0.6% at 7,463.5 points.

On the currency markets, the pound rose 0.2% against the dollar to $1.2787, but slipped 0.16% against the euro to 1.1424 euros.

The FTSE 100 is up more than half a per cent this morning, having regained ground after yesterday's sell-off.

It's partly a relief rally, but also driven by Brent Crude oil prices, which are up 0.6% at $47.60 per barrel. This has led both BP and Royal Dutch Shell more than 1.2% higher.

It also helped that sterling couldn’t build on yesterday’s rally; the pound is little changed against the dollar, and down 0.1% against the euro.

A weak pound means firms' international profits are worth more when converted back into sterling.

The FTSE 100 opened higher this morning after falling 0.7% yesterday due to pressure on retail stocks and a jump in the pound.

In early trade it is up 21 points, or 0.3%, at 7,439.38.

Tesco has gained 1.3% after releasing a first quarter update that showed UK like-for-like sales growth of 2.3%, beating analyst expectations.

Rolls Royce is up 0.56% after the engineering giant said currency effects could boost its 2017 revenue.

Meanwhile the pound is little changed at $1.2771.