FTSE

Investors should keep their collective eye on total returns and focus their search for FTSE 100 stocks to those currently under pressure in the market, suggests Insight Investment fund manager Tim Rees.

Cadbury Schweppes gained on an analyst recommendation this morning, helping send the FTSE 100 index up about 7 points to 4,420.

The FTSE 100 index gained 6.10 to close at 4,412.80 after OPEC calls to cut oil output by the cartel's members sent spot oil prices soaring and BP and Shell's shares up in London.

News that Europe's biggest semiconductor maker STMicroelectronics is expecting better sales in the next year helped send technology stocks higher, and push the FTSE up by 49.10 points to 4,406.70 by the close.

Mid-March has not been a good period for stocks as investors wondered whether the Madrid bombings could spark the unwinding of positions in cyclicals.

Sainsbury and Boots stuttered today as the City bailed out of the stocks on news their forward earnings and profits are not going to meet forecasts, helping send the FTSE 100 index down 16.10 points to 4,357.50 by the close.

Bill Brown, head of pan-European small cap equities at ISIS Asset Management, is predicting another good year for smaller companies and the Alternative Investment Market.

The FTSE 100 index dropped 9.10 points to close at 4,309.40 today, again testing resilience after dipping below the 4,300 level in the hour before trading ceased.

The FTSE 100 index gained about 13 points at one stage this morning to 4,346, despite continued pressure on stockmarkets around the world.

The FTSE 100 index fell 83.90 points to 4,333.80 today after all but four stocks made losses in the wake of volatile oil prices and heightened terrorism fears sparked by events in Israel and Palestine.