FTSE closes up despite US weakness

The FTSE-100 index of leading shares closed up 67 points at 4,763 after a day when the market first turned sour before making up ground. Among the winners was British Airways, which surged 9.5p to 175p after the company unveiled further cuts to routes in response to the downturn in demand for air travel. The company will close down all of its Atlantic routes flying to and from Gatwick, which instead will become a point-to-point airport for flights to, mainly, European destinations. Fresh demand for shares in services providers Compass Group and Hays pushed the services sector ...