LONDON -- The FTSE 100 (INDEX: ^FTSE) carried on from last week's relatively strong performance to put on 20 points in early trading for a 0.5% rise to 5,600 points.

Though it's down overall for the past year, might we finally be seeing a bottom for the index of the biggest U.K. stocks? Well, some of the FTSE's index constituents have been turning things around, and now we take a look at three of today's big risers.

Soco buyout
Oil explorer Soco International (LSE: SIA.L) enjoyed an 8.2% jump to 313 pence in early trading after the firm, which drills for oil in West Africa and Southeast Asia, released news about its Vietnamese operations.

Soco currently owns an 80% stake in its Soco Vietnam subsidiary and has now reached an agreement to purchase the remaining 20% from Lizeroux Oil & Gas for $95 million.

The firm also stressed its "strong belief" in the value of the Ca Ngu and Te Giac Trang fields off the Vietnamese coast, in which it holds stakes of 25% and 28.5%, respectively.

The shares are down on the year, but forecasts for the next two years look strong.

Television pioneer
Motive Television (LSE: MTV.L), which produces some clever gadgetry for enhancing the capabilities of television on the move, put on 18% to 0.11 pence after announcing a contract with CET 21 to use its Television Anytime Anywhere technology in the Czech Republic.

That took the price back to the level it reached a couple of weeks ago after the company announced the grant of a patent in Spain, but it subsequently fell back a little. Perhaps we're finally starting to see the good news needed to reverse the long share-price slide this tiny operator has suffered.

Barclays rising!
Despite being in the news for all the wrong reasons of late, Barclays (LSE: BARC.L) was one of the FTSE 100's biggest gainers today -- with a 3.6% jump to 168 pence -- after announcing the resignation of chairman Marcus Agius, who is standing down as a result of the LIBOR-fixing scandal.

That affair, in which several banks were investigated on suspicion of manipulating the interbank lending rate, led to bumper fines totaling 290 million pounds for Barclays. Today's rise is but a small recovery from the 16% hit the shares took on the day of the LIBOR announcement.

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