Nasdaq

Having started the day on a sour note, Unilever struggled to pull back its losses from dropping sales, and kept the mood on the FTSE at a low ebb.

It's a bad start on the FTSE 100 this morning as Unilever has cut its full-year earnings forecast because of lower sales.

Improved profits for Corus and Kingfisher as well as a shock rise in retail sales helped to lift the spirits in the FTSE 100 today.

Abbey National shares closed down at their lowest level in seven months while HBOS bounced in the other direction, after announcing it no longer plans to bid for the bank.

Vodafone has seen its biggest share losses in over three months today after Citigroup downgraded their interest in mobile operators.

Having done well yesterday, Vodafone is this morning less than popular with shareholders as Citigroup has suggested traders sell the mobile phone giants MMO2 and Vodafone.

A slightly better start for some of the UK's biggest stocks - Compass and Vodafone - this morning have helped to boost the FTSE 100 in early trading.

The FTSE 100 index eventually closed up 8.3 points or just 0.18% to 4,546.3 on Friday as a result of takeover talk for Sainsbury.

Markets have turned again on Friday morning and stocks are rising for the first time in three days, thanks largely to Sainsbury and accounting software firm Sage Group.

A bad start to the day for Compass Group left the London stocks struggling to recover after MFI Furniture Group also reported bad news.