London’s leading shares index struggled to make significant progress today as fears over growth in China and the rumbling eurozone debt crisis troubled investors.
The FTSE 100 Index spent most of the day in the red after trade figures pointed towards a slowdown in the explosive growth experienced in China, but the top flight managed to close 5.2 points higher at 5,892.8.
Commodity stocks were weakened by the news, with Vedanta Resources off 52p at £13.69 and Rio Tinto down 58.5p to 3,450.5p.
It was also a poor session for banks, with Royal Bank of Scotland down 0.8p to 25.37p, Barclays off 4.9p to 235.9p and Lloyds Banking Group 0.7p lower at 33.7p.
The biggest riser in the FTSE 100 Index was supermarket chain Morrisons, which climbed 2% or 6.8p to 301.6p on the day it met analysts in St Albans to show off planned improvements to its store formats.
Elsewhere, engineering group GKN was 1.5p lower at 211p amid speculation that it is about to spend £800million on Volvo’s aircraft business.
Meanwhile, Game Group lost around two-thirds of its value after signalling it was in danger of collapse.
Game’s options in its battle for survival include selling its UK business, but with two weeks until its quarterly rent bill it is looking increasingly possible that it will go into administration. Shares were down 1.3p at 2.2p.
The biggest Footsie risers included British Land ahead 9.6p at 496.3p, Unilever up 40p at £21.07 and Kingfisher ahead 4.6p at 286.8p.
The biggest Footsie fallers included Essar Energy down 2.7p at 108.3p.
Alan MacPhee, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Aberdeen, noted Johnston Press rose 5.84% to 7.25p, with Aberdeen Asset Management adding 2.68% to 256.75p and Plexus up 1.52% to 116.75p.
Among the laggards, Faroe Petroleum dropped 4.53% to 158.625p and Xcite Energy was down 2.81% to 129.375p.