17.25: At the close the FTSE 100 was up 17.60 points at 6,671.97.

A promise from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro helped revive the London market today.

In a speech to European Parliament, Mr Draghi said the central bank was prepared to buy government bonds if inflation in the 18-country eurozone fails to rise.

Eurozone economy: Markets hope ECB's Mario Draghi will announce further stimulus measures today

The footsie spent most of the session in negative territory after Japan revealed it slumped into recession by contracting at an annual pace of 1.6 per cent in the third quarter.

Mr Draghi's remarks also helped European markets close higher.

The ECB has cut interest rates to record lows and backed the purchase of some types of private-sector bonds, but it has so far pulled back from adopting a full-blown quantitative easing programme.

Miners were stronger despite the mixed international news with Fresnillo up 16p to 736.5p and Anglo American up 17.5p to 1372.5p.

With China's economy also showing signs of slowing, Asia-facing stocks were under pressure as Standard Chartered fell 21.6p to 936.3p and HSBC dropped 2.7p to 640p. Consumer goods giant Unilever was 7p lower at 2598p and luxury goods firm Burberry eased 8p to 1550p.

The pound was also squeezed as economists continue to push back their forecasts for when UK interest rates will rise from their record low of 0.5 per cent.

Sterling dipped to a fresh 14-month low against the US dollar of 1.56 but was slightly higher against the troubled euro at 1.26.

Fears that Opec members will not cut production when they gather for a meeting in Vienna later this week meant the price of Brent crude resumed its recent decline to stand at just below 79 US dollars a barrel.

But BP edged up 0.65p to 432.45p and Royal Dutch Shell lifted 8.5p to 2303.5p.

Supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury's were back under pressure - off 2.3p to 192.7p and 4.4p to 265.7p respectively - but Morrisons moved in the opposite direction after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the stock to buy. The Bradford-based grocer was 2p higher at 181.5p.

In corporate results, shares in Majestic Wine fell in the wake of figures showing half-year profits declined by £1million to £8.5million.

Like-for-like sales in its UK stores improved by 2.8 per cent but this was offset by investment costs and pressure on its Lay & Wheeler fine wine business due to the weaker Bordeaux 2013 vintage.

Shares were 4p lower at 362p and have fallen by around a third so far this year.

The biggest risers in the FTSE 100 Index were ARM Holdings up 21p at 890p, Fresnillo up 16p at 736.5p, BSkyB up 16.5p at 864p and Vodafone up 3.75p at 229.1p.

The biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 Index were Weir Group down 80p at 2047p, Standard Chartered down 21.6p at 936.3p, IMI down 28p at 1228p and Sainsbury down 4.4p at 265.7p.

16.20: The Footsie looked set to close higher today, despite having spent most of the day in the red, following a speech by Mario Draghi who said the ECB was ready to do more to stimulate the eurozone economy.

The prospect of further monetary stimulus lifted the FTSE 100 index 22 points higher, or 0.3 per cent, to 6,677. At the close the FTSE 100 was up 17.60 points at 6,671.97.

Draghi reiterated the ECB was ready to do more if inflation remained too low for too long, saying ECB staff was preparing the ground for further steps should they become necessary, and such new measures could include purchases of sovereign bonds.

‘We see early indications that our credit easing package is delivering tangible benefits,’ Draghi told lawmakers in the European Parliament, adding that more time was needed for the latest measures to unfold.

And added: 'We need to remain alert to possible downside risks to our outlook for inflation, in particular against the background of a weakening growth momentum and continued subdued monetary and credit dynamics.'

15:15: The FTSE 100 has moved into positive territory, trading 5 points higher, or 0.08 per cent, at 6,659.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic US stocks fell at the open, following four consecutive weeks of gains for major Wall Street indexes, weighed by data showing Japan slipped into recession.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 25.43 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 17,609.31, the S&P 500 lost 4.11 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,035.71 and the Nasdaq dropped 10.61 points, or 0.23 percent, to 4,677.93.

13:15: The FTSE 100 was down 0.05 per cent at 6,651.32 amid uncertain global economic outlook after news that Japan slumped into recession.

With China's economy also showing signs of slowing, Asia-facing stocks were under pressure as Standard Chartered fell 18.35p to 939.5p and HSBC dropped 7p to 635.7p.

Consumer goods giant Unilever was 27.5p lower at 2577.5p and luxury goods firm Burberry eased 14.5p to 1543.5p.

The pound was also squeezed as economists continue to push back their forecasts for when UK interest rates will rise from their record low of 0.5 per cent

In light of revised Bank of England guidance last week, HSBC said it now thinks the rate could stay the same until the first quarter of 2016.

The pound dipped to a fresh 14-month low against the US dollar of 1.56 but was slightly higher against the troubled euro at 1.25.

Fears that Opec members will not cut production when they gather for a meeting in Vienna later this week meant the price of Brent crude resumed its recent decline to stand at just below $79 dollars a barrel.

BP was a penny cheaper at 430.75p and Royal Dutch Shell fell 5.5p to 2289.5p but other commodity-based stocks were higher as silver miner Fresnillo lifted 18.5p to 739p and Anglo American added 32p to 1387p.

11:40: The Footsie was down 16 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 6,638 after news that Japan fell into recession and as investors await good news from the European Central Bank later today when President Draghi holds a conference.

Connor Campbell, financial analyst at Spread Ex, said: 'Considering the consistently disappointing figures coming from the Eurozone, Draghi may finally announce the stimulus that many have been crying out for in recent months '

Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari said: 'This could be quite a big market event today as not only is Draghi likely to be heavily questioned on the ECBs efforts to avoid deflation thus far, which are showing little sign of working, he's also likely to be pressed on further attempts to lift its balance sheet to two trillion euros.

'Clearly the markets want to see quantitative easing and while Draghi is happy for investors to believe this is a strong possibility, I don't think some policy makers are keen on it in the slightest.

'The markets don't really care about this though, they just want to be led on which is why market volatility could pick up around this testimony.'

The pound fell slightly against the dollar, with now a pound buying $1.5642 compared to $1.5655 at the previous close.

Quindell began the week with more bad news, falling by 15 per cent this morning amidst rumours that the firm is looking for further funds to precipitate a management buyout. The company has seen shares fall by 76 per cent in the year to date.

Astrazeneca fell by nearly 3 per cent, shedding 128p to 4,528p, while small-cap.

Global fears: Japan unexpectedly slipped back into recession in the third quarter

9:00: The FTSE 100 opened down 29 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 6,625.70, hit by fears over the global economy's health as Japan unexpectedly slipped into recession in the third quarter.

Tokyo's Nikkei index tumbled 3 per cent today, suffering its biggest one-day slump since August.

Meanwhile, David Cameron warned last night that the global economy risked another crash as he flew back from the G20 in Brisbane.

He said in an article in the Guardian that ‘red warning lights’ were ‘flashing on the dashboard of the global economy’ and the eurozone was ‘teetering on the brink’ of another recession.

Cameron’s warning follows a claim by Bank of England governor Mark Carney that a ‘spectre’ of economic stagnation was haunting Europe.

Cameron also said that Europe and the US had sent a clear message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country will be isolated from the world community if the crisis in Ukraine is not resolved.

On Friday, the UK blue chip index closed 0.3 percent higher at 6,654.37 points.

Japan's GDP fell at an annualised rate of 1.6 per cent in the three months to September after dropping 7.3 per cent in the second quarter following a rise in the national sales tax, which clobbered consumer spending.

The country's economy had been expected to rebound by 2.1 per cent in the third quarter, but consumption and exports remained weak, saddling companies with huge inventories to work off.

Investors will be hoping for more QE from the European Central Bank today when president Mario Draghi will give a speech – even if some analysts suggest the ECB's commitment to this option still looks more like a case of ‘Chekhov's Gun’.

Last week’s eurozone GDP official data showed Germany narrowly avoided recession in the third quarter and France exceeded low expectations, putting the eurozone on course for anaemic growth but no contraction.

Europe's largest economy eked out 0.1 per cent growth from the previous three months, the German statistics office said on Friday, following a revised 0.1 per cent fall in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, France expanded by 0.3 per cent on the quarter, beating forecasts for 0.2 per cent growth, marking its best performance in more than a year. But its second quarter was revised down to show a 0.1 per cent fall in GDP.

Marc Ostwald at ADM Investor Services said: ‘Markets remain desperate for signals that if the path to G7 policy divergence is to be embarked upon, then ECB and BoJ “stimulus” may offset much of the impact of some modest Fed tightening, even if it appears rather naive to assume that low levels of volatility that are needed for accompanying “carry” and “leveraged” trades could really be sustained against that backdrop.’

Engineering firm Weir Group was the biggest faller this morning, down 3 per cent, followed by drug AstraZeneca, which was nearly 2 per cent lower at 4,568p.

Asia-facing banking giant HSBC fell 7.4p to 635.3p, while British Airways owner International Airlines Group was off 6.45p to 419.85p.

Supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury's were back under pressure - off 2.4p to 192.6p and 5p to 265.1p respectively - but Morrisons moved in the opposite direction after Goldman Sachs upgraded its rating on the stock to buy. The Bradford-based grocer was 1.7p higher at 181.2p.

Miners were also stronger despite the global economy fears, with Anglo American up 19.75p to 1374.75p and BHP Billiton ahead 16p to 1674p.

After a brief jump which dampened deflation concerns, oil has resumed its downward march as investors weigh up the likelihood of OPEC cutting output when it meets next week. The price of Brent Crude was down 1.5 per cent this morning at $78 a barrel.

Stocks to watch today include:

RECKITT BENCKISER - The British consumer goods giant said a shareholder meeting to approve the demerger of its pharmaceuticals unit would be held on 11 December.

SPORTS DIRECT - Britain's opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband criticised retailer Sports Direct on Saturday over its policy of hiring most staff on ‘zero hours’ contracts, saying it was a ‘bad place to work’.

TALKTALK - British broadband providers Talktalk Telecom Group said it had signed an agreement to use Telefonica UK's mobile network to provide 2G, 3G and 4G services to its customers.

SERCO - Chairman Alastair Lyons said he intended to quit to take responsibility for the debacle at the British outsourcing firm which has led the group to repeatedly downgrade profit forecasts.

MITIE - British outsourcer posted a 3 per cent rise in pre-tax profits in the first half of the year, after it secured £8.5billion worth of contracts and expanded its bid pipeline.