London shares recovered from the early blow of shock £1.2billion trading losses at JPMorgan Chase, America’s biggest bank, to finish higher today.
The FTSE 100 Index spent much of the session in negative territory but encouraging consumer confidence numbers in the US and signs that Spain is prepared to get to grips with its banks fuelled a recovery that left the top flight 31.6 points higher at 5,575.5.
British Airways owner International Airlines Group was 2.4p higher at 165.4p even though rising fuel prices and weak trading at Iberia contributed to bigger first quarter losses.
Marks and Spencer rose 3%, or 12.1p to £3.60p after Bank of America Merrill Lynch placed a buy rating on the retail chain and said it should benefit from a strong summer of events.
Other big risers in the Footsie included Hammerson ahead 13.3p at 429.8p, Severn Trent up 51p at £16.93 and Shire ahead 58p at £20.48.
Miners dominated the fallers board after a slowdown in China’s industrial production growth to 9.3% in April from nearly 12% in March raised concerns that the world’s second-biggest economy continues to weaken.
Eurasian Natural Resources was down 20.5p to 516.5p, Xstrata fell 36p to £10.52 and Evraz was off 9.6p at 337.4p.
ends
In the banking sector, Barclays fell 6p to 202.8p, Royal Bank of Scotland was 0.1p lower at 23p, HSBC shed 2.3p to 554.2p and Lloyds Banking Group lost 0.1p to 31.1p.
Outside the top flight, Thomas Cook fell 1%, or 0.25p lower at 21.25p after it revealed widening losses. The shares have fallen 90% since the start of 2011.
Elaine McLachlan, of investment manager and financial planning specialist Brewin Dolphin in Inverness, noted British Polythene up 2.3% at 347.5p and Melrose Resources rising 1.9% to 121.9p.
Aberdeen’s Parkmead Group was 4.8% lower at 15.3p, STV Group fell 3.2% to £1.10 and Wolfson Microelectronics shed 1.5% to 184.4p.
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