Dow Jones

The Daily Mail & General Trust has pushed the FTSE 100 index down to suffer its first drop in seven sessions.

The FTSE 100 index has receded around 14 points to 4,905 points this morning in London, paced by Schroders.

A third successive term for prime minister Tony Blair and the Labour Party has helped to lift shares on the FTSE 100 by the end of the week.

Both UK stocks and bonds rose today as it is thought prime minister Tony Blair and the Labour Party will win a third consecutive term of office in today's parliamentary general election.

UK shares enjoyed a major boost by the close of business on Tuesday and the benchmark index gained over 1%, as there was good news for Friends Provident, Glaxo and Kingfisher.

The FTSE 100 index has started the new month well and stocks are currently up after Friends Provident reported strong sales data and the oil price held above $50 a barrel.

Shares are struggling to stay afloat in early UK trading this morning thanks to news from the US of an economic slowdown.

Despite pressure on some of the biggest players in the market over recent months, the UK benchmark index is performing relatively well this morning as GlaxoSmithKline and Shell had good news to report.

London's FTSE 100 Index retreated to its lowest level since January, paced by shares in the retail sector including Kingfisher and Dixons.

In the UK the FTSE 100 Index slipped about 20 points to 4845.50 points at is close a short while ago, paced by Whitbread.