Afternoon trading saw the FTSE 100 index regain its nerve and push higher by 9.20 points to 4,390.60, helped by a strong earnings announcement from Cisco Systems ahead of the opening of US markets in New York.
Weightings also came to the rescue as actually more stocks made losses than gains, but the sheer size of companies such as GlaxoSmithKline, Vodafone, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland helped tip the overall index into the black. Amvescap gained 11.25p to 415p on positive fourth quarter results despite the cloud thrown over its US operations by ongoing regulatory investigations into dodgy after-hours dealings in mutual funds. Tobacco did well. Imps added 27p to 1,132p, BATS added 12.5p to 788.5p, and Gallaher added 9.5p to 620p. BOC did not do well, shedding 23p to 871p as investors d...
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