FTSE steps back up after morning falls

The FTSE 100 closed up 0.58 per cent to 6251.80 after morning losses were made up.

The biggest gains of the day were recorded by BT – up 5.49 per cent – as it reported profit gains for the last quarter.

Other big gains were recorded for Icap, Cairn Energy, SABMiller and Cadbury.

The biggest falls of the day were recorded for Royal Bank of Scotland (down 13.55 per cent), Thomas Cook (down five per cent), Sage Group (down 2.22 per cent), and Barclays (down 1.99 per cent).

David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Index, said: "It has been another choppy day for the index with another trip below 6200 proving short lived and the market managing to claw back those early losses and more. It still leaves us with no clear direction for the FTSE which has just traded in a wide range for almost two weeks.

"Banking stocks have been back in focus, with an update from Barclays revealing a £1 billion credit-crunch related hit for its capital markets division, however the bank as a whole did manage to stay profitable in the first quarter.

"This weighed on the sector today and pushed the Barclays share price back towards lows for the year so far, in the 380p/400p area. This is a common situation for many of the banking stocks at the moment and the next week or so should be telling as to whether the market is taking the view that there is even more bad news to come."

He added: "We have seen banking stocks rally from their current depressed levels a couple of times already this year – a move to fresh lows would be a clear signal that investors are expecting effects from the credit crisis to roll on for much longer."

Daniel Barnes