Heading into the close: after another volatile session UK shares look set to end comfortably higher.

When trading started this morning it looked like it could be another day of heavy losses with the FTSE nose-diving, however this proved to be very short-lived. The story for most of today has been one of continued recovery, clawing back a portion of the losses seen on Thursday in response to the concerns over Dubai’s ability to meet its debt obligations.

A fairly orderly opening to US markets has also helped calm nerves – although volumes do appear to be light. We will probably have a truer picture early next week - investors are understandably cautious of the potential for any more bad news to break over this weekend. But so far the recovery has been an encouraging one and shows that even after eight months of strongly rising stock markets, the appetite still seems to be out there to buy into the dips.