Fresh worries about the eurozone debt crisis and the UK economy meant London’s blue chip shares index struggled to make significant gains today.
The FTSE 100 Index closed up 19.9 points at 5,723.7 ahead of the Easter break as the grim sentiment in Europe was neutralised by more encouraging news from the US, where unemployment claims hit a four-year low.
London’s leading shares index had been down by as much as 40 points in early trading but a miners’ rally helped drag it back into the black.
Heavily-weighted miners were on the front foot after yesterday’s sell-off, with Glencore – up 22.4p at 411.8p – the biggest riser.
Other strong performances came from Ashmore Group ahead 18.9p at 385.6p, Polymetal International up 37p at £9.32, and Xstrata 38p higher at £11.12.
There was optimism surrounding JJB Sports after the sportswear chain secured £30million of additional funding. Shares were up by 5%, or 0.8p to 17p, although they had risen more than 10% earlier.
Banking shares were among the biggest fallers amid a Europe-wide sell-off of lenders.
Lloyds Banking Group was down 0.5p at 31.4p, Royal Bank of Scotland was off 0.3p at 25.8p and HSBC was 2.3p lower at 554.5p.
Other big Footsie fallers included BSkyB down 22.5p at 635.5p, Man Group off 3.1p at 119.7p and BAE Systems off 4.1p at 291.3p.
Bicycle, camping and motoring accessories retailer Halfords dropped 2%, or 7p to 308.4p after analysts cut their current year profit forecasts in the wake of a fourth quarter trading update.
The UK’s biggest cash-and-carry wholesaler, Booker, saw its shares fall 4%, or 3.4p to 81.3p – ending a recent strong run – even though the group said it was on track to hit City full-year profit expectations.
Steven McKay, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted Xcite Energy up 13.5% to 119.625p, Petrofac adding 3.4% to £17.55 and AMEC 1.7% higher at £11.28.
FirstGroup lost 1.4% to 213.95p, Aberdeen Asset Management slipped 0.9% to 257.3p and EnQuest shed 0.4% at 127.9p.